The Real Problem with High Healthcare Costs

The following is a guest blog by Monica Stout from MedicaSoft

The rising cost of healthcare in the U.S. is something that nearly everyone experiences on a regular basis. Looking at the trend over the last few decades, there is an eye-opening surge in cost. There’s a great article/table by Kimberly Amadeo that outlines health care costs by year from 1960 to 2015. The cost per person for health care in 1960 was $146. In 2015, the cost per person was $9,990, over 68 times higher than it was in 1960.

The trend shows no sign of slowing; 2018 costs have only gotten higher. The National Conference of State Legislatures cited a figure from a Kaiser Employer Survey stating that annual premiums reached $18,764 in 2017. Costs for people purchasing insurance on an exchange or privately increased even more.

Increasing healthcare costs impact everyone. Why have costs gotten so high? Wasn’t the Affordable Care Act supposed to make coverage more affordable? Instead, many are faced with even higher insurance premiums for themselves and their families. Sometimes that equates to having to make difficult choices in care. And should people have to decide whether or not they can afford to seek care or treatment?

Many people want to blame insurance companies or hospitals or lobbyists or politicians. In truth, it’s a complex issue. And one of the core reasons it’s so hard to dissect is that there is a real lack of data – cost and price information, and clinical information on care quality and outcomes. Nobody has all of the data in one place. Without all of the data, the real problem or problems can’t be seen. If a problem can be guessed, it can’t be fixed. As in the Wizard of Oz, the real drivers are lurking behind the curtain; worse, the data that describes the drivers is splintered and located in different places, waiting to be collected in a way that reveals the whole truth.

How can health IT help? Are there ways that we can help solve the data problem and reduce high healthcare costs? Electronic Health Records can help gather the data. Adding claims data to complete, longitudinal patient health records can also help. Connecting PHRs, EHRs, and claims data together can help bridge the data gaps and tell more of a complete story. Until we have that story, the industry will continue to operate in siloes. Costs will continue to rise. And people will have a harder time seeking out the care they need.

About Monica Stout
Monica is a HIT teleworker in Grand Rapids, Michigan by way of Washington, D.C., who has consulted at several government agencies, including the National Aeronautics Space Administration (NASA) and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs (VA). She’s currently the Marketing Director at MedicaSoft. Monica can be found on Twitter @MI_turnaround or @MedicaSoftLLC.

About MedicaSoft
MedicaSoft  designs, develops, delivers, and maintains EHR, PHR, and UHR software solutions and HISP services for healthcare providers and patients around the world. MedicaSoft is a proud sponsor of Healthcare Scene. For more information, visit www.medicasoft.us or connect with us on Twitter @MedicaSoftLLC, Facebook, or LinkedIn.

   

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