US Health Scorecard
Our system of healthcare is way below our potential. We have the capability to diagnose, treat, cure and prevent many diseases that other countries just think about, yet it seems there is an ever-enlarging divide between what we have and what is possible.
Our healthcare expenditures are almost $2 trillion dollars annually. This is about double of other countries on a per capita basis.
According to the Commonwealth report U.S. Health System Scorecard Makes Case for Change
Compared with other industrialized nations, the U.S. ranks 15th on deaths from preventable illnesses, and is near the bottom on healthy life expectancy
Only about half of Americans receive recommended preventive care and screening tests.
Quality: Total Average Score 71
Access: Total Average Score 67
Efficiency: Total Average Score 51
Equity: Total Average Score: 71
We should be able to do better
Continuing the status quo can no longer be an option. We must embrace change and be willing to listen to all ideas.
Patients need to be responsible for their own health and healthcare dollars. They need to have access to information that allows them to make informed, intelligent decisions.
We must find ways to integrate data and make it cost effective for physicians and hospitals. We must protect the data but also protect these people from lawsuits if information is stolen or accessed for reasons other than gross negligence.
Encourage providers to organize into networks and release the restrictions that prevent this. Physicians need to be able to negotiate collectively in defined areas if insurance companies can negotiate for their thousands of patients as a whole.
Promote greater standardization of care without producing “cookbook” medicine.
Healthcare providers can't change the system by themselves. Policymakers, insurers and employers all have important roles to play.
America could and should have the greatest healthcare system in the world, but we will have to work very hard to achieve that vision. The time to start is now.
Our healthcare expenditures are almost $2 trillion dollars annually. This is about double of other countries on a per capita basis.
According to the Commonwealth report U.S. Health System Scorecard Makes Case for Change
Compared with other industrialized nations, the U.S. ranks 15th on deaths from preventable illnesses, and is near the bottom on healthy life expectancy
Only about half of Americans receive recommended preventive care and screening tests.
Quality: Total Average Score 71
Access: Total Average Score 67
Efficiency: Total Average Score 51
Equity: Total Average Score: 71
We should be able to do better
Continuing the status quo can no longer be an option. We must embrace change and be willing to listen to all ideas.
Patients need to be responsible for their own health and healthcare dollars. They need to have access to information that allows them to make informed, intelligent decisions.
We must find ways to integrate data and make it cost effective for physicians and hospitals. We must protect the data but also protect these people from lawsuits if information is stolen or accessed for reasons other than gross negligence.
Encourage providers to organize into networks and release the restrictions that prevent this. Physicians need to be able to negotiate collectively in defined areas if insurance companies can negotiate for their thousands of patients as a whole.
Promote greater standardization of care without producing “cookbook” medicine.
Healthcare providers can't change the system by themselves. Policymakers, insurers and employers all have important roles to play.
America could and should have the greatest healthcare system in the world, but we will have to work very hard to achieve that vision. The time to start is now.
Labels: healthcare, system
posted by Anonymous at 6:02 AM
4 Comments:
This comment has been removed by the author.
As I see it one major problem with our healthcare is the cost. Yes we have wonder drugs and great potential but only the wealthy can afford it.
Insurance costs are going up every year. And Medicare reimbursement to physicians is going down every year.
I get so sick of hearing about how the middle and working class people "fall through the cracks". So why don't they fill in those cracks? Looks like greed to me.
I will be happy to discuss the deleted comment with the individual personally. Just contact me in another more appropriate venue.
The entire system is broken from beginning to end.
We need legislators to tackle the issue and start anew.
It is much like our tax system. It also is broke and they just keep trying to bandaid the problem.
One interesting characteristic of the healthcare environments in other countries that seem to get better results at a lower cost is that healthcare providers (including doctors) make substantially less than their peers in this country. There is often a single payor (usually the government)and it is a "take it or leave it" proposition for the providers.
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