CLINICAL NEWS
Sticker
Shock
In the past decade, there has been little surprise as to which medical
conditions rank as the most expensive in terms of yearly medical expenditures, with the same five medical conditions occupying the top five spots.
The amount of money spent on these conditions, however, has risen
substantially from 2002 to 2012. According to data from the Agency for
Healthcare Research and Quality, after adjusting for inflation, spending
increased to the tune of:
$83.5 to $101
All in the Family
When family doctors provide more care – versus referring patients to specialists – they save their patients and the health-care system money. “Payment and
practice policies that enhance primary-care comprehensiveness may help bend
the cost curve,” according to researchers from the Academy of Family Physicians.
Among 3,652 primary-care physicians and 555,165 Medicare beneficiaries, the study authors found that, when a physician was rated as “very
comprehensive:”
for heart conditions
Medicare Part A
and B costs were
reduced by 25%
patients were
65% less likely
to be hospitalized
$59.8 to $87.5
$
for cancer
$68.9 to $93.1
$
Medicare Part B
costs were 14% lower
for trauma-related disorders
Source: Bazemore A, Petterson S, Peterson LE, Phillips RL. More comprehensive care
among family physicians is associated with lower costs and fewer hospitalizations. Ann
Fam Med. 2015;13:206-13.
$58.6 to $83.6
for mental disorders
$55.9 to $75.9
for chronic obstructive pulmonary
disease and asthma
0
$
20
$
40
$
Let’s Get Physical!
60
$
80
$
$
100
$
120
BILLION
The number of people with each of these conditions, and – unsurprisingly – the mean
expenditure per person also increased over the past decade.
Source: Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. Statistical Brief #470: Trends in the Five Most Costly Conditions
among the U.S. Civilian Non-Institutionalized Population, 2002 and 2012. April 2015.
Over Budget But Still Underinsured
Nearly 1 in 4 U.S. adults is underinsured – meani