TY - JOUR
T1 - Controlling U.S. health spending
T2 - Opportunities for academic health centers
AU - Anderson, Gerard F.
N1 - Copyright:
Copyright 2017 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
PY - 2006/9
Y1 - 2006/9
N2 - This article begins by examining the factors that explain the level and rate of increase in health care spending. Expenditures per capita for health care in the United States are more than double the expenditures per capita in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and most other industrialized countries. The main reason for the higher expenditures is not that Americans have access to or receive more health care, but that the prices Americans pay for medical services are two to three times higher than the prices in other industrialized countries. The author examines three actions that leaders of academic health centers (AHCs) could take that could reduce the burden of these higher costs on the American public. First, leaders of AHCs could compare the costs in their hospitals to the costs in comparable hospitals in other countries to find out why hospitals in the United States are so much more expensive. Second, they could examine how much they charge the uninsured for hospital services at AHCs-generally two to ten times more than they charge people with insurance. Third, including more people with multiple chronic conditions in clinical trials could make the findings of the clinical trials applicable to a larger patient population and thereby reduce the substantial geographic variation of health care that exists in the United States.
AB - This article begins by examining the factors that explain the level and rate of increase in health care spending. Expenditures per capita for health care in the United States are more than double the expenditures per capita in Canada, the United Kingdom, France, and most other industrialized countries. The main reason for the higher expenditures is not that Americans have access to or receive more health care, but that the prices Americans pay for medical services are two to three times higher than the prices in other industrialized countries. The author examines three actions that leaders of academic health centers (AHCs) could take that could reduce the burden of these higher costs on the American public. First, leaders of AHCs could compare the costs in their hospitals to the costs in comparable hospitals in other countries to find out why hospitals in the United States are so much more expensive. Second, they could examine how much they charge the uninsured for hospital services at AHCs-generally two to ten times more than they charge people with insurance. Third, including more people with multiple chronic conditions in clinical trials could make the findings of the clinical trials applicable to a larger patient population and thereby reduce the substantial geographic variation of health care that exists in the United States.
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U2 - 10.1097/00001888-200609000-00008
DO - 10.1097/00001888-200609000-00008
M3 - Review article
C2 - 16936487
AN - SCOPUS:33748278541
SN - 1040-2446
VL - 81
SP - 807
EP - 811
JO - Academic Medicine
JF - Academic Medicine
IS - 9
ER -