Institute:Office of National Coordinator (ONC) Workforce Training Curriculum
Component:Introduction to Health Care and Public Health in the U.S.
Unit:Financing Health Care - Part 2
Lecture:Methods of Controlling Rising Medical Costs
Slide content:Cost Drivers: Technology 50 % of total annual expenditures Devices advance diagnosis and care Imaging: CT, MRI Artificial devices: Hips, knees, pacemakers New procedures treat the untreatable, minimize risk, improve outcomes Surgery: da Vinci robot 6
Slide notes:There are many factors driving the increase in expenditures for medical care in the U.S. Among them are the cost of technology, increased utilization, and administrative costs. According to the Congressional Budget Office, technology costs account for fifty percent of the total annual expenditures on health care. New imaging devices - such as computerized tomography, or CT scanners and magnetic resonance imagers, or MRIs - and artificial parts and devices - such as artificial joints for knees and hips, or pacemakers for the heart - contribute to major advances in the diagnosis and management of patients with chronic disease. At the same time, they also contribute to increasing costs. New procedures have led to treatments for previously difficult or untreatable illnesses and injuries, for example the lap-band for morbid obesity. Use of the da Vinci robot for minimally invasive surgery has the potential to decrease length of stay and reduce the risk of complications, but costs thousands of dollars more per procedure, due to the high cost of the equipment. Health IT Workforce Curriculum Version 4.0 6