Crossing the Health Care Chasm

Abstract

The U.S. health care industry is standing on the precipice of an ever widening and deepening chasm. The breadth and depth of the health care chasm is affected by economics fueled by the unsustainable costs of providing services to an aging population and not having the means to pay for the costs. Reimbursement changes are driving physician-hospital integration primarily through physician employment models. Population growth primarily due to the baby-boomer population who start turning 65 years of age on January 2011 will increase demand for cardiac and vascular services. Timely and convenient access to services will be problematic as the number of physicians required may be stretched to capacity coupled with the likelihood that many cardiologists take early retirement given reimbursement changes. Augmenting the reimbursement challenges is the ever shrinking number of workers per Medicare beneficiary. Current legislation does little to address these challenges and may actually exacerbate them.