Healthcare: Relationship Between Healthcare Cost And Quality

Relationship between Healthcare Cost and Quality

Healthcare Cost and Quality

In the United States the relationship between cost and quality of care is difficult to comprehend, the US has the highest per capita spending for health care in the world, but ranks only 26th in quality of care when comparing with other developed countries. The United States leads the world in excessive cost specialty and intensive medical treatment, but falls behind other developed countries in relation to low cost medical interventions like primary care visits and vaccinations which can improve the quality of life and longevity. In the United States, higher cost of healthcare does not always equate to higher quality, for instance in the US there is no policy stating that a new drug or device should be less expensive and more effective than an existing product. The result is that the new drugs or devices

There are concentrated efforts being undertaken by the healthcare industry to reduce cost and improve quality, for instance: hospitals have implemented policies and process to reduce nosocomial infections, this can in turn reduce the cost and increase the quality of care. Another example where cost can be controlled is by reducing the rate of readmissions, which could be preventable by adequate discharge follow-up in the form of telephone calls, and reminders for outpatient appointments. Another ideal which is in discussion is single payment for care, which means paying a single rate for the whole episode of care. One of the inadvertent consequence ("CHQPR," 2011). Moving to electronic records was an initiative undertaking by the Obama administration improve quality and reduce cost, but this move has motivated some providers to bill more for their services (Eyermann,