The Sick Cost of Medical Paperwork

THE SICK COST OF Medical Paperwork If there's one thing Americans can agree upon 100%, it's that the cost of health care is completely insane. Costs are far higher in the US than in any other industrialized nation, and even health care reform hasn't been able to reel them in yet. But where is all that money going, exactly? Hundreds of billions are going straight into the paper shredder. Inefficiency Costs The United States spends roughly $400 BILLION on paperwork and other administrative costs each year. This is enough to completely fund health care reform in 2011. Out of these costs, $100-$150 BILLION is wasted on system inefficiencies. This money accounts for more than 20% of overall excess spending on health care. Administrative Costs This nebulous term contains different costs depending on who is defining it. The most commonly included features are: PAYING DISEASE OVER-THE-PHONE BILLS MANAGEMENT CONSULTATIONS CLICK HERE INSURER PROFIT ADVERTISING Private Insurance System 85% of administrative inefficiency costs result from the U.S. private insurance system. Due to its complicated structure, the private insurance system is horribly inefficient - and it passes off these inefficiency costs to the consumer. 24% of the average person's insurance costs go towards administration, coming out to $500 -100% per person per year. Yet big businesses don't suffer. For L0% 10,000+ employee companies, this amount is just 4-6% of total costs. TAIWAN has a single-payer system, and administrative costs account for just 2% of health care spending. HProblems With Hospitals Doctors typically spend ONE 12 CENTS of every 1 DOLLAR they receive from patients covering administrative costs. ADMINISTRATIVE HOSPITAL PERSONNEL BED There is an average of 1.5 administrative personnel per hospital bed nationwide. Duke University Hospital has: 900 HOSPITAL BEDS 1,300 BILLING CLERKS $7 BILLION is wasted each year because of our complicated billing system. $12 BILLION is wasted on communication inefficiencies. One Solution: EHR Electronic Health Records ONLY ONE FOURTH of America's physicians currently use electronic health records. The average doctor receives MORE THAN 1,000 faxes per month - a waste of paper and money. Between the economic stimulus plan and Affordable Care Act, PRESIDENT OBAMA has devoted more than $20 billion to incentivizing the use of EHRS and other efficiency measures. Widespread implementation of EHRS alone could save $100 BILLION over the next ten years. Simply having the ability to download a patient's file saves $545 PER USE (due to reduced wait times). Switching to all-electronic records could reduce CO2 emissions by 1.7 MILLION TONS = 500,000 CARS CREATED BY: wWW.MEDICALTRANSCRIPTION.NET REFERENCES: http://seekingalpha.com/article/275647-taking-on-healthcare-costs-via-the-private-sector http://www.economist.com/blogs/dailychart/2011/06/us-health-care-spending http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/11/21/why-does-us-health-care-cost-so-much-part- ii-indefensible-administrative-costs/ http://media.hoover.org/sites/default/files/documents/9780817910440 1.pdf http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyld%389651916 http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2011pres/06/20110630a.html http://econlog.econlib.org/archives/2011/06/administrative.html http://www.newyorker.com/online/blogs/jamessurowiecki/2009/12/video-david-cutler.html http://www.npr.org/blogs/money/2010/07/06/128338526/ex-ambulance-driver-tries-squeezing- cash-from-health-insurance-companies http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20812527 http://money.cnn.com/2009/08/21/technology/electronic_health_record_cost_savings/index.htm BY NO ND This work is licensed under a Creative Commons License