Healthcare System Wastes up to $800B a Yr

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Joy125

Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 1:38 PM

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Last Login: Yesterday @ 10:08 PM
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FROM REUTERS.COM

Healthcare system wastes up to $800 billion a year

October 26, 2009

by Maggie Fox

EXCERPTS:

" . . . The U.S. healthcare system wastes between $505 billion and $850 billion every year, the report from Robert Kelley, vice president of healthcare analytics at Thomson Reuters, found. . .

. . . " . . by attacking waste we can reduce healthcare costs without adversely affecting the quality of care or access to care."

One example -- a paper-based system that discourages sharing of medical records accounts for 6 percent of annual overspending. . . .

Some other findings in the report from Thomson Reuters, the parent company of Reuters . . .

* Fraud makes up 22 percent of healthcare waste, or up to $200 billion a year in fraudulent Medicare claims, kickbacks for referrals for unnecessary services and other scams.

* Administrative inefficiency and redundant paperwork account for 18 percent of healthcare waste.

* Medical mistakes account for $50 billion to $100 billion in unnecessary spending each year, or 11 percent of the total.

* Preventable conditions such as uncontrolled diabetes cost $30 billion to $50 billion a year.

"The average U.S. hospital spends one-quarter of its budget on billing and administration, nearly twice the average in Canada," reads the report, citing dozens of other research papers. . . .

READ MORE:

http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSTRE59P0L320091026?pageNumber=1&virtualBrandChannel=0

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Lift up your hand, oh God. Do not forget the helpless. Psalm 10:12

http://www.physiciansforpeace.org/

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Grandpavan

Posted Friday, October 30, 2009 2:13 PM

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Last Login: Today @ 12:42 AM
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I think reducing waste is laudable but I don't know how most of the proposed changes do that. God bless.

Age 82, diagnosed RA 12/2001, married since 1952, 4 sons no daughters, 4 grandsons 1 granddaughter. Doing well on Methotrexate and Remicade.

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