High Cost Medicine Not Superior
- From: "George Conklin" <georgeconklin1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 14 Jun 2007 09:57:54 GMT
The state of PA has studied costs and outcomes on medical care. They find
that high cost does NOT equal better medicine.
----
Stark evidence that high medical payments do not necessarily buy
high-quality patient care is presented in a hospital study set for release
today.
In a Pennsylvania government survey of the state's 60 hospitals that perform
heart bypass surgery, the best-paid hospital received nearly $100,000, on
average, for the operation while the least-paid got less than $20,000. At
both, patients had comparable lengths of stay and death rates.
And among the 20 hospitals serving metropolitan Philadelphia, two of the
highest paid actually had higher-than-expected death rates, the survey
found.
Hospitals say there are numerous reasons for some of the high payments,
including the fact that a single very expensive case can push up the
averages.
Still, the Pennsylvania findings support a growing national consensus that
as consumers, insurers and employers pay more for care, they are not
necessarily getting better care. Expensive medicine may, in fact, be poor
medicine.
.
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