Accounting and the 'insoluble' problem of health care costs

Health service accounting reforms are frequently promoted, explained or justified with reference to ageing populations, expensive medical technologies and their purported implications for the cost of health care. Drawing on Foucault’s genealogical method, we examine the emergence of concerns regarding health expenditure in the wake of the creation of the British National Health Service in 1948, and their relationship with health service accounting practices. We argue that concerns regarding the cost of health care are historically contingent rather than inescapable consequences of demographic and technological change, and that health service accounting practices are both constitutive and reflective of such concerns. We conclude by relating our analysis to current attempts to control costs and increase efficiency in the health services.

Wellness and Obesity: Implications for Health Care Costs Among Restaurant Managers

Overeating, inadequate exercise, work-related stress, and long working hours are accepted issues among restaurant managers. The underlying question was whether such life styles affect employers' health care cost and restaurant managers' health and ability to cope with imposed business requirements. The author discusses strategies to help employers reduce health care costs, increase employee productivity, and improve job satisfaction.

Portuguese health care costs related to asbestos exposure: a cost-of-illness study on mesothelioma hospital admission in the period 2000-2015

Background: Portugal has a temperate climate and low industrialization levels existing in the period after World War II, when asbestos materials were used worldwide, has contributed to the generalized belief of low usage of those materials. - Such supposition lacks confirmation; - There is no specific registry of asbestos-related diseases, workers asbestos exposure or asbestos industrial use; - Mesotheliomas are rare neoplasms strongly related to asbestos exposure so they can be used to understand the possible dimension of past exposure to asbestos; - It was estimated that professional diseases under notification was up to 90% for asbestos-related diseases, mainly mesotheliomas.

Preventive social health programs : are they Australia's answer to rising health care costs in rural communities?

Although we have good evidence to support the notion that early intervention, prevention and community education programs can mitigate the impact of preventable disease, expanded primary health care is also being promoted by Australian governments as a panacea for reducing growth in demand generally. While preventive programs do reduce acute demand, they may not do so the extent that resources, currently allocated to the acute sector, can be substituted to provide the additional primary care services necessary to reduce acute demand permanently. These developments have particular relevance for rural and isolated communities where access to acute services is already very limited. What appears to be occurring, in rural South Australia at least, is that traditional acute services are being reduced and replaced with lower level care and social intervention programs. This is well and good, but eventually the acute care being provided in rural health units now will still need to be provided by other units elsewhere and probably at much higher cost to the system and to consumers. Where rural communities have previously managed much of their own acute service demand, they may now be forced to send patients to more distant centres for care but at much greater social and economic cost to individuals and the system.

Health-care costs over 15 years after bariatric surgery for patients with different baseline glucose status: results from the Swedish Obese Subjects study

BACKGROUND: Bariatric surgery prevents and induces remission of type 2 diabetes in many patients. The effect of preoperative glucose status on long-term health-care costs is unknown. We aimed to assess health-care costs over 15 years for patients with obesity treated conventionally or with bariatric surgery and who had either euglycaemia, prediabetes, or type 2 diabetes before intervention. METHODS: The Swedish Obese Subjects (SOS) study is a prospective study of adults who had bariatric surgery and contemporaneously matched controls who were treated conventionally (age 37-60 years; BMI of ≥34 in men and ≥38 in women) recruited from 25 Swedish surgical departments and 480 primary health-care centres. Exclusion criteria were identical for both study groups, and were previous gastric or bariatric surgery, recent malignancy or myocardial infarction, selected psychiatric disorders, and other contraindicating disorders to bariatric surgery. Conventional treatment ranged from no treatment to lifestyle intervention and behaviour modification. In this study, we retrieved prescription drug costs for the patients in the SOS study via questionnaires and the nationwide Swedish Prescribed Drug Register. We retrieved data for inpatient and outpatient visits from the Swedish National Patient Register. We followed up the sample linked to register data for up to 15 years. We adjusted mean differences for baseline characteristics. Analyses were by intention to treat. The SOS study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT01479452. FINDINGS: Between Sept 1, 1987, and Jan 31, 2001, 2010 adults who had bariatric surgery and 2037 who were treated conventionally were enrolled into the SOS study. In this study, we followed up 4030 patients (2836 who were euglycaemic; 591 who had prediabetes; 603 who had diabetes). Drug costs did not differ between the surgery and conventional treatment groups in the euglycaemic subgroup (surgery US$10,511 vs conventional treatment $10,680; adjusted mean difference -$225 [95% CI -2080 to 1631]; p=0·812), but were lower in the surgery group in the prediabetes ($10,194 vs $13,186; -$3329 [-5722 to -937]; p=0·007) and diabetes ($14,346 vs $19,511; -$5487 [-7925 to -3049]; p<0·0001) subgroups than in the conventional treatment group. Compared with the conventional treatment group, we noted greater inpatient costs in the surgery group for the euglycaemic ($51,225 vs $25,313; $22,931 [19,001-26,861]; p<0·0001), prediabetes ($58,699 vs $32,861; $27,152 [18,736-35,568]; p<0·0001), and diabetes ($61,569 vs $47,569; 18,697 [9992-27,402]; p<0·0001) subgroups. We noted no differences in outpatient costs. Total health-care costs were higher in the surgery group in the euglycaemic ($71,059 vs $45,542; $22,390 [17,358-27,423]; p<0·0001) and prediabetes ($78,151 vs $54,864; $26,292 [16,738-35,845]; p<0·0001) subgroups than in the conventional treatment group, whereas we detected no difference between treatment groups in patients with diabetes ($88,572 vs $79,967; $9081 [-1419 to 19,581]; p=0·090). INTERPRETATION: Total health-care costs were higher for patients with euglycaemia or prediabetes in the surgery group than in the conventional treatment group, but we detected no difference between the surgery and conventional treatment groups for patients with diabetes. Long-term health-care cost results support prioritisation of patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes for bariatric surgery. FUNDING: AFA Försäkring and Swedish Scientific Research Council.

Late-stage, primary open-angle glaucoma in Europe:Social and health care maintenance costs and quality of life of patients from 4 countries

Objective: The purpose of this study was to estimate costs and quality of life (QoL) of late-stage glaucoma patients in 4 European countries. Methods: Retrospective review of medical charts of patients with POAG who were followed in a low-vision or vision rehabilitation center in one of 4 countries for at least 1 year was used to determine patient characteristics, health status, and health care resource use. Visual impairment was measured by best-corrected visual acuity (Snellen score). Patients were also interviewed over the telephone in order to assess their health-related QoL (using EuroQol EQ-5D) and use of resources including: the number of visits to rehabilitation centers, visits to hospital and non-hospital specialists, the use of low-vision devices, medication, tests, and the use of hired home help. The costs associated with resource use were calculated from the perspective of a third-party payer of health and social care based on resource usage and unit costs in each country. Results: Patients undergoing visual rehabilitation in France (n=21), Denmark (n=59), Germany (n=60), and the United Kingdom (n=22) were identified, interviewed and had their medical charts reviewed. Annual maintenance costs of late-stage glaucoma amounted to €830 (±445) on average. Average home help costs were more than 3 times higher. QoL, on average, was 0.65 (±0.28). QoL was positively correlated with the level of visual acuity in the patients' best eye. On the other hand, visual acuity was also positively correlated to health care costs, but negatively correlated to costs of home help. Conclusions: The study was limited by its observational, uncontrolled design. The finding that late-stage glaucoma is associated with higher home help costs than health care maintenance costs suggests that potential savings from a better preventive treatment are to be found for social care payers rather than health care payers. © 2008 Informa UK Ltd All rights reserved.

Health care and lost productivity costs of overweight and obesity in New Zealand

Objective: To estimate the costs of health care and lost productivity attributable to overweight and obesity in New Zealand (NZ) in 2006.

Methods: A prevalence-based approach to costing was used in which costs were calculated for all cases of disease in the year 2006. Population attributable fractions (PAFs) were calculated based on the relative risks obtained from large cohort studies and the prevalence of overweight and obesity. For each disease, the PAF was multiplied by the total health care cost. The costs of lost productivity associated with premature mortality were estimated using both the Human Capital approach (HCA) and Friction Cost approach (FCA).

Results: Health care costs attributable to overweight and obesity were estimated to be NZ$686m or 4.5% of New Zealand's total health care expenditure in 2006. The costs of lost productivity using the FCA were estimated to be NZ$98m and NZ$225m using the HCA. The combined costs of health care and lost productivity using the FCA were $784m and $911m using the HCA.

Conclusion: The cost burden of overweight and obesity in NZ is considerable.

Implications: Policies and interventions are urgently needed to reduce the prevalence of obesity thereby decreasing these substantial costs.

Essays on health care reform, wealth inequality, and demography

This thesis contains three chapters. The first chapter uses a general equilibrium framework to simulate and compare the long run effects of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) and of health care costs reduction policies on macroeconomic variables, government budget, and welfare of individuals. We found that all policies were able to reduce uninsured population, with the PPACA being more effective than cost reductions. The PPACA increased public deficit mainly due to the Medicaid expansion, forcing tax hikes. On the other hand, cost reductions alleviated the fiscal burden of public insurance, reducing public deficit and taxes. Regarding welfare effects, the PPACA as a whole and cost reductions are welfare improving. High welfare gains would be achieved if the U.S. medical costs followed the same trend of OECD countries. Besides, feasible cost reductions are more welfare improving than most of the PPACA components, proving to be a good alternative. The second chapter documents that life cycle general equilibrium models with heterogeneous agents have a very hard time reproducing the American wealth distribution. A common assumption made in this literature is that all young adults enter the economy with no initial assets. In this chapter, we relax this assumption – not supported by the data – and evaluate the ability of an otherwise standard life cycle model to account for the U.S. wealth inequality. The new feature of the model is that agents enter the economy with assets drawn from an initial distribution of assets. We found that heterogeneity with respect to initial wealth is key for this class of models to replicate the data. According to our results, American inequality can be explained almost entirely by the fact that some individuals are lucky enough to be born into wealth, while others are born with few or no assets. The third chapter documents that a common assumption adopted in life cycle general equilibrium models is that the population is stable at steady state, that is, its relative age distribution becomes constant over time. An open question is whether the demographic assumptions commonly adopted in these models in fact imply that the population becomes stable. In this chapter we prove the existence of a stable population in a demographic environment where both the age-specific mortality rates and the population growth rate are constant over time, the setup commonly adopted in life cycle general equilibrium models. Hence, the stability of the population do not need to be taken as assumption in these models.

Measuring value in cancer-related health care: A case study in head and neck cancer

In the current climate of escalating health care costs, defining value and accurately measuring it are two critical issues affecting not only the future of cancer care in particular but also the future of health care in general. Specifically, measuring and improving value in cancer-related health care are critical for continued advancements in research, management, and overall delivery of care. However, in oncology, most of this research has focused on value as it relates to insurance industry and payment reform, with little attention paid to value as the output of clinical interventions that encompass integrated clinical teams focusing on the entire cycle of care and measuring objective outcomes that are most relevant to patients. ^ In this study, patient-centered value was defined as health outcomes achieved per dollar spent, and calculated using objective functional outcomes and total care costs. The analytic sample comprised patients diagnosed with three common head and neck cancers—cancer of the larynx, oral cavity, and oropharynx—who were treated in an integrated tertiary care center over an approximately 10-year period. The results of this study provide initial empirical data that can be used to assess and ultimately to help improve the quality and value of head and neck cancer care, and more importantly they can be used by patients and clinicians to make better-informed decisions about care, particularly what therapeutic services and outcomes matter the most to patients.^

Consumer Driven Health Care: An Examination of the Disadvantages to Low Income Employees

As health care costs for companies continue to rise, more organizations are considering a consumer driven health plan option with the goal to engage employees so that they make better health care decisions. Although consumer driven health plan options present advantages to the employer and some employee groups, low income employees are negatively impacted by this option. Two major disadvantages include missed care and out of pocket obligations. This capstone reviews the current literature on consumer driven health care and discusses the disadvantages to low income employees. It also provides strategies and recommendations to employers who are considering a consumer driven health option plan to minimize the disadvantages to low income employees.

Health Care Reform or More Affordable Health Care?

This article investigates the impact on the U.S. economy of making health care more affordable. We compare health care cost reductions with the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) using a rich life cycle general equilibrium model with heterogeneous agents. We found that all policies were able to reduce uninsured population, but the PPACA was the most effective: in the long run, less than 5% of Americans would remain uninsured. Cost reductions alleviated the government budget, while tax hikes were needed to finance the reform. Feasible cost reductions are less welfare improving than the PPACA.

Health care financing review

Imprint varies: Washington, D.C., summer 1979-; Baltimore, Md.,

Comprehensive health care reform and cost containment : hearings before the Committee on Finance, United States Senate, One Hundred Second Congress, second session.

"June 9, 17, and 18, 1992"--Pt. 2.

Managing health care in Australia : steps on the health care roundabout?

This paper explores some of the lessons of the coordinated care trials in Australia in the context of managed care in America and asks how do we best manage our finite health care dollars for the most equitable and effective outcomes for whole populations? The COAG trial in Australia tested a more structured process for managing the care of patients with chronic illness and postulated that currently fragmented health system funding could be pooled around individual patient need, and managed for improved economic outcomes and patient wellbeing. There is little doubt, following this initiative and much work in other countries, that as health care costs rise, for a range of reasons, improvements are needed in the management of our resources if we are to control rising health care costs. We also know that chronic illness, much of which is preventable and avoidable, is the major component in the rising health care cost equation and a factor likely to consume around 75% of our health dollars in the future. Much chronic illness can be prevented through social and population health strategies and we know that even if chronic illness can?t be prevented, it can be managed better through community-based chronic illness management programs. These programs rely on information, education, patient lifestyle and behaviour change, and on patients developing improved self-management skills. But, what is the best way to manage population health in Australia and ensure equity and fairness in the health care market as we evolve new approaches, especially to the management of chronic illness?