Reuters: US Healthcare system wastes up to $800 billion a year

[marmar]

Healthcare system wastes up to $800 billion a year
Mon Oct 26, 2009 10:53am EDT

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Editor


WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. healthcare system is just as wasteful as President Barack Obama says it is, and proposed reforms could be paid for by fixing some of the most obvious inefficiencies, preventing mistakes and fighting fraud, according to a Thomson Reuters report released on Monday.

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.

"America's healthcare system is indeed hemorrhaging billions of dollars, and the opportunities to slow the fiscal bleeding are substantial," the report reads.

"The bad news is that an estimated $700 billion is wasted annually. That's one-third of the nation's healthcare bill," Kelley said in a statement.

"The good news is that 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.

"It is waste when caregivers duplicate tests because results recorded in a patient's record with one provider are not available to another or when medical staff provides inappropriate treatment because relevant history of previous treatment cannot be accessed," the report reads. ........(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE59P0L320091026

[derby378]

1. Thank you, Republicans!

That $800 billion has to be going somewhere. It obviously isn't being used to help out patients!

:mad:

[Cassandra]

2. Hmmmmmmmm... one third...

That sounds suspiciously like the 30% profit margins the blood-sucking insurers take off the top.