US healthcare system wastes $700 billion a year: Thomson Reuters
28 Oct 2009
US President Barack Obama has called for reforms in the US healthcare system and rightly so, because such reforms could fix some of the most evident inefficiencies, prevent mistakes and avoid fraud, according to a report.
In a white paper published yesterday by Robert Kelley, vice president of healthcare analytics at Thomson Reuters, found that the US healthcare system wastes between $600 billion and $850 billion every year.
Based on a review of published research and analyses of proprietary healthcare data, the report identifies the most significant drivers of wasteful spending - including administrative inefficiency, unnecessary treatment, medical errors, and fraud - and quantifies their cost.
"America's healthcare system is indeed hemorrhaging billions of dollars, and the opportunities to slow the fiscal bleeding are substantial," the report says.
"The bad news is that an estimated $700 billion is wasted annually. That's one-third of the nation's healthcare bill," Kelley said in a statement.
"The good news is that by attacking waste we can reduce healthcare costs without adversely affecting the quality of care or access to care."
"That's the point of this report - to identify areas in the healthcare system that can generate game-changing savings," Kelley said.
