America’s Healthcare Crisis

People often ask what is wrong with America’s health care system and what can be done about it? We could spend hours and days on this blog pontificating on this subject. Here are some facts: It’s estimated between 70 and 80% of all healthcare resources in this country are being consumed by as little as 5% of the population, and that the vast majority of that 5% are utilizing resources because of either obesity or smoking.

Smoking and obesity degrades of a person’s immune system and leads to a high cost for the healthcare systemwhether it be the cost of treating diabetes, cancer, COPD, heart problems, etc. We need to educate populations about how to engage in more healthy behaviors and live healthy lifestyles. Obesity remains a growing problem in the United States and smoking is still rampant and in some populations, particularly overseas, is growing at an amazing pace.

What are we doing to educate people about the true cost of smoking and obesity? What are we doing to encourage or reinforce better behaviors by incentivizing people to correct these poor actions and to improve their lifestyles? These are questions that we have to ask ourselves as we look at how to increase the effectiveness of the healthcare delivery system, and how to reduce the cost for all. We’re going to have to find a way to reach that small percentage of the population that engages in unhealthy activity, leading to chronic high cost and complex treatments that are draining the health care system overall.

About AllMed Healthcare Management
Founded in 1995, AllMed is a URAC-accredited Independent Review Organization (IRO) serving insurance payers, providers, TPAs and claims managers nationwide. Reviews are conducted by board-certified physicians in active practice. AllMed’s growing customer base for its independent medical review and hospital peer review services includes premier organizations, such as Educator’s Mutual Life, IMS Managed Care, Tenet Healthcare Corporation, HealthGuard, several Blue Cross Blue Shield organizations, TriWest Healthcare Alliance, Allianz and many other leading healthcare payers. Read the AllMed Medical News Blog and the Independent Review Organization Blog.

[tags]medical, medicine, healthcare, insurance, hospital, health[/tags]