Reducing Hospital Costs
This is from The Commonwealth Fund:
18 percent of Medicare patients were readmitted to the hospital within 30 days; rates varied widely from area to area. And a Medicare Payment Advisory Commission study found that 75 percent of all 30-day readmissions in Medicare were potentially preventable.
CWF Solution: Tell doctors how to practice medicine. More here.
NCPA Solution: Let hospitals profit from quality improvements and let them compete on quality. More here.
I find the Commonwealth study amusing in an ironic sense with respect to the re-admission rate. In the years I spent doing hospital practice I was many times caught between the implacable utiliztion review process and the desires of families to leave a loved one in the hospital until they were up and playing handball again. If I had to characterize the types of people who work for the Commonwealth Fund, it would be clones of the review coordinators. Holding my feet to the fire with their infallible studies and guidelines. The families would generally be of two mindsets: hold grandma in the hospital until next Easter or else at least keep her over the weekend so we can get a respite and have Medicare pay for 100 days of nursing home care.