Monday, March 2, 2009

[EQ] National Health Spending By Medical Condition, 1996-2005

National Health Spending By Medical Condition, 1996–2005

 

Mental disorders and heart conditions were found to be the most costly.

 

Charles Roehrig, George Miller, Craig Lake, and Jenny Bryant

Health Affairs 28, no. 2 (2009): w358–w367 (published online 24 February 2009; 10.1377/hlthaff.28.2.358)]

DOI 10.1377/hlthaff.28.2.w358 ©2009 Project HOPE–The People-to-People Health Foundation, Inc.

 

Available online at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/hlthaff.28.2.w358v1

 

PDF [10P.] at: http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/hlthaff.28.2.w358v1.pdf

 

”….: This study responds to recent calls for information about how personal health expenditures from the National Health Expenditure Accounts are distributed across medical conditions. It provides annual estimates from 1996 through 2005 for thirty-two conditions mapped into thirteen all-inclusive diagnostic categories. Circulatory system spending was highest among the diagnostic categories, accounting for 17 percent of spending in 2005. The most costly conditions were mental disorders and heart conditions.

 

Spending growth rates were lowest for lung cancer, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, pneumonia, coronary heart disease, and stroke, perhaps reflecting benefits of preventive care….”

 

The national Health Expenditure Accounts (NHEA) provide official estimates of total annual U.S. health care spending for use by researchers and policymakers.

They routinely track personal health spending by type of service (such as hospital, physician, and prescription drugs) and source of funds (such as private insurance,Medicare, and Medicaid), but they do not track spending by medical condition. Yet such information is critical to a more complete understanding

of what lies behind the increase in spending, what Americans are getting in return, and where we should focus efforts to improve health and health care.

 

For these reasons, participants at a recent conference to discuss improvements to the NHEA recommended that they be extended to include spending by disease.1 This was consistent with an earlier Institute of Medicine (IOM) recommendation that the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) identify

at least fifteen priority conditions, “taking into account frequency of occurrence, health burden and resource use.”…..”

 


http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/content/abstract/hlthaff.28.2.w358v1

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
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[EQ] Professional Monopolies in Medicine

Professional Monopolies in Medicine

 

Mark O. Baerlocher, MD; Allan S. Detsky, MD, PhD

Department of Radiology, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada (Dr Baerlocher); and the Departments of Health Policy Management and Evaluation and Medicine, University of Toronto, and Departments of Medicine, Mount Sinai Hospital and University Health Network (Dr Detsky), Toronto, Canada

JAMA. 2009;301(8):858-860. - Vol. 301 No. 8, February 25, 2009

 

Website:  http://jama.ama-assn.org/cgi/content/short/301/8/858

 

“…….Physicians, like other professionals in society, stake out a scope of practice that gives them ownership rights to performing tasks within a specific clinical territory. Just as lawyers reserve exclusive rights to practice law and pharmacists to dispense pharmaceuticals, so also have physicians demarcated subspecialty lines. Oncologists are the cancer experts, obstetricians bring children into the world, pediatricians take care of children, and neurosurgeons perform brain surgery. These ownership rights constitute professional monopolies.

 

In general, most societies encourage free competition and discourage monopolistic behavior, which restricts supply and raises prices above true costs. Societies do so through the legal system via antitrust legislation to prevent price fixing. Legal exceptions are granted in a few cases to promote other societal goals. In public utilities, for example, monopolies were formerly granted for reasons of standardization and economies of scale …”

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.  

[EQ] Policies for Healthy Ageing: an Overview

POLICIES FOR HEALTHY AGEING: AN OVERVIEW

 

Howard Oxley

Health Working Papers - OECD HEALTH WORKING PAPERS NO. 42

DIRECTORATE FOR EMPLOYMENT, LABOUR AND SOCIAL AFFAIRS

HEALTH COMMITTEE

OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development 16-Feb-2009

 

Available online PDF [32p.] at: http://www.olis.oecd.org/olis/2009doc.nsf/ENGDATCORPLOOK/NT00000BDE/$FILE/JT03259727.PDF

 

“…….This paper reviews policies in the area of healthy ageing. With the ageing of OECD countries’ population over coming decades, maintaining health in old age will become increasingly important. Successful policies in this area can increase the potential labour force and the supply of non-market services to others. They can also delay the need for longer-term care for the elderly.

 

A first section briefly defines what is meant by healthy ageing and discusses similar concepts – such as “active ageing”. The paper then groups policies into four different types and within each, it describes the range of individual types of programmes that can be brought to bear to enhance improved health of the elderly. A key policy issue in this area concerns whether such programmes have a positive effect on health outcomes and whether they are cost effective…..”

 

Content:

 

SUMMARY

1. INTRODUCTION

2. DEFINING “HEALTHY AGEING”

3. WHAT IS THE SCOPE OF HEALTHY AGEING POLICIES?

3.1 Improved integration in the economy and into society

3.2 Better lifestyles

3.3 Adapting health systems to the needs of the elderly

3.4 Attacking underlying social and environmental factors affecting healthy ageing

4. ASSESSING WHETHER POLICIES/PROGRAMMES ARE (COST) EFFECTIVE

4.1 Cost-efficiency and cost-benefit analysis

4.2 Economic and social integration

4.2.1 Longer working lives

4.2.2 Increasing social capital

4.3 Encouraging more healthy lifestyles

4.3.1 Maintaining physical activity

4.3.2 Healthy eating and appropriate nutrition

4.3.3 Substance use, abuse and misuse

4.4 Adapting health systems to the needs of the elderly

4.4.1 Better co-ordination of care within the health-care systems

4.4.2 More attention to cost-effective prevention

4.4.3 Problems with pharmaceutical drug use among the elderly

4.4.4 Reducing injury among the elderly

4.4.5 A growing role for home visits?

4.4.6 Improving health literacy

4.4.7 Influencing social and environmental factors affecting healthy ageing

5. CONCLUDING ASSESSMENT

BIBLIOGRAPHY

 

 

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This message from the Pan American Health Organization, PAHO/WHO, is part of an effort to disseminate
information Related to: Equity; Health inequality; Socioeconomic inequality in health; Socioeconomic
health differentials; Gender; Violence; Poverty; Health Economics; Health Legislation; Ethnicity; Ethics;
Information Technology - Virtual libraries; Research & Science issues.  [DD/ KMC Area]

“Materials provided in this electronic list are provided "as is". Unless expressly stated otherwise, the findings
and interpretations included in the Materials are those of the authors and not necessarily of The Pan American
Health Organization PAHO/WHO or its country members”.

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PAHO/WHO Website: http://66.101.212.219/equity/

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    IMPORTANT: This transmission is for use by the intended recipient and it may contain privileged, proprietary or confidential information. If you are not the intended recipient or a person responsible for delivering this transmission to the intended recipient, you may not disclose, copy or distribute this transmission or take any action in reliance on it. If you received this transmission in error, please notify us immediately by email to infosec@paho.org, and please dispose of and delete this transmission. Thank you.