Health Care Costs
Ways to Cut Them Right Now
In the face of high health care costs, the health care industry is striving to reduce costs by addressing chronic, expensive drains on health care dollars. Researchers have offered numerous steps that can be taken to significantly reduce costs. Furthermore, while some cost-cutting programs are considered ineffective window-dressing, major health care providers have systematically and pointedly taken successful steps to reduce costs while rewarding compliance with those steps.
Three of the Ten Ways to Cut Health Care Costs Right Now, Described by Arnst
While Catherine Arnst describes 10 ways to cut health care costs right now and Kaiser Permanente addresses all 10 of those ways, 3 of the ways Kaiser Permanente cuts health care costs leap to mind: cracking down on fraud and abuse; developing a healthy workforce; and stopping infections in hospitals. "Fraud and abuse" in health care includes but is not limited to phony medical claims, kickbacks to health care providers and concocted payment schemes (Arnst, 2009). According to Arnst, due to law enforcement crackdown in other areas, organized crime has entered the lucrative business of health care fraud and abuse, with a low estimated yearly cost of 3 -- 10% of all health care spending for fraudulent billing alone (Arnst, 2009). Consequently, health care institutions are now focusing on detecting and eliminating as much fraud and abuse as possible. "Developing a Healthy Workforce" in Health Care involves a health care institution's offer of wellness services to employees, based on the theory that "prevention pays" (Arnst, 2009). In support of this theory, Arnst quotes Dr. Fikry W. Isaac, Johnson & Johnson's executive director of global health services, who states: "Seventy percent of health-care costs could be prevented through lifestyle modification" (Arnst, 2009). Despite the wisdom and savings inherent in overall wellness services, prevention is too often overlooked (Lavizzo-Mourey, 2009, p. 1). In an effort to address that neglect, some companies offer services such as smoking cessation classes, online weight loss and stress management tools and fitness centers to their employees (Arnst, 2009). In addition, some health care institutions couple wellness services with incentives such as reduced health insurance premiums to encourage...
The third attempt in reducing the cost of healthcare service revolves around coordination of health services by the use of family doctors. This would enable patients to avoid the risk of double prescription of drugs. Patients should focus on directives from one doctor in the process of seeking medical attention. This would reduce the cost of obtaining healthcare services by the patients thus lowering down the total cost within the
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