Please provide feedbacks for the following post
- Read “A Dozen Facts About the Economics of the US Health-Care System“https://www.brookings.edu/articles/a-dozen-facts-a… from the Brookings Institute on the economics of the U.S. health care system, and discuss the following with your group:
- Analyze the causes of the high cost of health care in the United States.
- Propose a strategy you think can help lower the cost of health care.
Post 1
Healthcare costs have been on a steady rise since the 1990s according to (Nunn et al., 2020). One of the main contributing factors to the rise in healthcare costs is the lack of competition. As noted in (Potter, 2014) Physician practices in areas with low competition charge more for office visits than practices in areas with high competition. Studies show that the lack of competition among providers and anti-competitive contracting practices create perverse incentives for hospitals and health care systems to hike prices without improving value for patients. (Competition in health care: More choices, better quality, and lower… 2022)
How can this ongoing “crisis” be solved? Well, it would begin by accepting that policy reform would have to take place and be enforced stringently and consistently across the board. This means that mergers and acquisitions would be limited as a growing body of evidence shows that consolidation in health care provider markets has led to increases in prices without clear evidence of increases in quality. (Godwin et al., 2023) This would encourage healthy competition among providers, contain costs, improve quality and encourage innovation to give people (patients) what they want in the least costly way possible. (Barros, P., et al, 2016)
Additionally, establishing a decentralized approach to healthcare via policy reform has been viewed as a means to improve efficiency and quality of services as well as promoting accountability and local governance of the health system. Decentralization disperses decision-making authority throughout a system. In turn, people operating at the lower levels of the system have more influence over organizational operations and policies. For this reason, decentralized systems can respond quickly to sudden changes in the market—they can also avoid some inefficiencies that can arise from too much bureaucracy. (4 challenges in Decentralized Healthcare 2022) Decentralization influences equity, efficiency and resilience in the health sector. Abimbola, S., Baatiema, L., & Bigdeli, M. (2019). The decentralization process dating back to the mid-1980s was mainly based on the rationale that getting the expected beneficiaries of the policies closer to policymakers would have improved their final outcome due to better information, increased accountability, and improved citizens’ involvement. (Arcidiacono A, Torrisi G, 2022)
References:
4 challenges in Decentralized Healthcare. Within3. (2022, September 27). https://within3.com/blog/challenges-in-decentralized-health-care
Abimbola, S., Baatiema, L., & Bigdeli, M. (2019). The impacts of decentralization on health system equity, efficiency and resilience: a realist synthesis of the evidence. Health policy and planning, 34(8), 605–617. https://doi.org/10.1093/heapol/czz055
Arcidiacono A, Torrisi G. Decentralisation and Resilience: A Multidimensional Approach. Sustainability. 2022; 14(16):9919. https://doi.org/10.3390/su14169919
Barros, P. P., Brouwer, W. B., Thomson, S., & Varkevisser, M. (2016). Competition among health care providers: helpful or harmful?. The European journal of health economics : HEPAC : health economics in prevention and care, 17(3), 229–233. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10198-015-0736-3
Competition in health care: More choices, better quality, and lower… AHIP. (2022, November 4). https://www.ahip.org/news/articles/competition-in-…
Competition in the health care marketplace. Federal Trade Commission. (n.d.). https://www.ftc.gov/advice-guidance/competition-gu…
Godwin, J., Hulver, S., & Levinson, Z. (2023, August 22). Understanding mergers between hospitals and health systems in different markets. KFF. https://www.kff.org/health-costs/issue-brief/under…
Nunn, R., Parsons, J., & Shambaugh, J. (2020, March 10). A dozen facts about the economics of the US health-care system. Brookings. https://www.brookings.edu/articles/a-dozen-facts-a…
Potter, L. M. (2014, October 21). Competition keeps health-care costs low, researchers find. News Center. https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2014/10/com…
