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By Alan J. Bleyer
Published on Tuesday, Jul 08, 2008
Health care is one of the most dynamic service industries in the United States today. Its growth prospects exceed other industries and in some communities it is viewed as an economic engine. As baby boomers age, we will require exponentially more service than we received in middle age. We are accustomed to the very best care, with the latest proven technologies and therapeutic agents.
But we as Americans face a critical challenge. How will we pay for this growth in consumption?
Under our current system, employers bear the brunt of the burden. Whether or not this makes sense is debatable, but it's troubling when companies like General Motors face financial crises because of the high costs of health care for their employees, retirees and family members.
According to a study by the New America Foundation, 60 percent of Americans receive their health-care benefits through their employers, and those employers spend an average of 11.5 percent of payroll on health care, compared with only 4.9 percent among our major trade partners (Canada, Japan, Germany, France and the United Kingdom).
The burden is even greater for American manufacturers, who pay $1.42 per hour more on average than these trade partners just to cover health care. Note that China and Mexico are not on this list, so is it any wonder that American manufacturers find it difficult to compete globally?
We all share indirectly in this cost by paying higher prices for goods and services manufactured domestically. Because these prices include health-care costs for current workers as well as a deduction for Medicare, we pay twice!
Health-care costs increasingly divert money that companies could otherwise spend on capital investments, research and development that create new jobs. No end is in sight. A just-released study by PriceWaterhouseCoopers projects that health-care costs will rise by 9.9 percent in 2008 and another 9.6 percent in 2009.
As taxpayers and employees, we pay directly for most of the rest of the expense for health care in the form of Medicare and Medicaid. Medicare spending is projected to grow at a rate of 7.8 percent annually between 2007 and 2016. And a recent report predicted that Medicare's trust fund will run out of money in just 10 years.
On June 16, Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben S. Bernanke told the Senate Finance Committee that health-care spending already consumes a quarter of the federal budget and more than 15 percent of our nation's economy. Bernanke said, ''It is the single largest component of personal consumption.'' Its growth rate has exceeded GDP growth by 2 percent on average the past four decades.
So while health-care provides jobs for local workers, its rising cost simultaneously drains resources that could be used to strengthen the economy in other ways.
Akron General Medical Center's strategy is to prepare for the future through innovation. We strive to innovate by exploring new ways of delivering care, with a focus on wellness and appropriate care when needed, located close to home.
We work tirelessly to minimize the cost of medical care while we continue to provide the very best care to our patients.
One of the best ways to reduce health-care costs is to reduce the amount of acute care necessary to treat chronic diseases. We have scientific data showing that simple lifestyle changes — including better nutritional choices and regular physical exercise — can make a significant improvement in the health of individuals with chronic diseases like diabetes, arthritis or back pain.
Studies show that every dollar spent on wellness and prevention programs translates to $3 to $4 in savings on health care.
Akron General has been a national leader in wellness for many years and thousands of local residents have benefited from our wellness programs. We offer discounted rates on wellness services to all local companies and offer special wellness benefits to our own employees when they embark on a regular exercise program. And for the general public, we offer screenings, weight loss programs and nutritional counseling.
A hospital stay is the most expensive component in the health-care cost continuum. So it makes sense to do everything to keep patients out of the hospital.
Because Summit County already has unneeded excess hospital capacity, Akron General is not building additional hospitals. In addition, research has shown that the community could save millions of dollars by closing old hospitals that duplicate services offered elsewhere.
With our population declining and patients spending fewer days in the hospital, can we afford to maintain full-service hospitals in every local community? At some point, Northeast Ohio will have to come to terms with the cost of maintaining so many small, inefficient hospitals.
Instead of hospitals, we have established a network of emergency departments in accessible locations. Our physicians are located throughout Summit County and Northeast Ohio.
Our home health-care nurses are able to go to a patients' homes and help them monitor or care for their health. We also offer hospice care that is designed to let terminally ill patients spend their final days in their homes, surrounded by family and friends.
One of our more innovative programs to keep patients in their homes is telemedicine. This service allows patients to monitor their health status on a daily basis and issues alerts to patients and their providers if any indicators are out of line. This new program serves just 50 patients so far, but it already has produced results.
When caregivers notice changes in a patient's condition, as indicated on the telehealth monitors, patients are contacted by phone. To date, 25 percent of those calls have resulted in follow-up care or interventions before the patient's condition became serious. At least 12 times over the first few months, health-care staff members were able to intervene and prevent a hospital visit — something that would not have occurred without the telehealth unit monitoring.
This is just one example of how Akron General is working to keep its patients healthy and out of the hospital, thereby reducing costs without sacrificing quality of care.
Akron General's vision is clear. Prevention is the best — most cost-effective — medicine.
Bleyer is the president and chief executive officer of Akron General Medical Center.
Health care is one of the most dynamic service industries in the United States today. Its growth prospects exceed other industries and in some communities it is viewed as an economic engine. As baby boomers age, we will require exponentially more service than we received in middle age. We are accustomed to the very best care, with the latest proven technologies and therapeutic agents.
Get the full article here.
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