Address Health Care Costs Research Articles

Leveraging behavioral economics strategies to close gaps in biomedical HIV prevention.

Adolescent girls and young women (AGYW) in southern Africa face triple the HIV incidence of their male peers due to multiple factors, including economic deprivation and age-disparate relationships. A new study by Aurélia Lépine and colleagues has demonstrated that addressing healthcare costs among AGYW has the potential to reduce HIV incidence.

The Role of Street Medicine and Mobile Clinics for Persons Experiencing Homelessness: A Scoping Review.

An estimated 5800 to 46,500 lives are lost due to homelessness each year. Experiencing homelessness and poor health are cyclically related, with one reinforcing the other. Mobile programs, which include vehicles that travel to deliver care, and street medicine, the act of bringing care to spaces where PEH live, may play a role in alleviating this burden by providing trusted, affordable, and accessible care to this community. We conducted a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature on the role of mobile clinics and street medicine in providing care for PEH by searching PubMed, Embase, and Web of Science on 10 August 2023. Articles from 2013 to 2023 specific to programs in the United States were included. The protocol was developed following the PRISMA-ScR guidelines. The primary outcome was the role of mobile programs for persons experiencing homelessness. A total of 15 articles were included in this review. The descriptive findings emphasized that street medicine and mobile clinics provide primary care, behavioral health, and social services. The utilization findings indicate that street medicine programs positively impact the health system through their ability to defer emergency department and hospital visits, providing financial benefits. The comparative findings between mobile programs and office-based programs indicate current successes and areas for improvement. Mobile clinics and street medicine programs that serve PEH provide a wide range of services. While more significant structural change is needed to address healthcare costs and housing policies in the United States, mobile clinics and street medicine teams can improve healthcare access and the healthcare system.

Rural-Urban Health Care Cost Differences Among Latinx Adults With and Without Dementia in the United States.

To compare rural-urban health care costs among Latinx adults ages 51+ and examine variations by dementia status. Data are from the Health and Retirement Study (2006-2018 waves; n = 15,567). We inflation-adjusted all health care costs using the 2021 consumer price index. Geographic context and dementia status were the main exposure variables. We applied multivariate two-part generalized linear models and adjusted for sociodemographic and health characteristics. Rural residents had higher total health care costs, regardless of dementia status. Total health care costs were $850 higher in rural ($2,640) compared to urban ($1,789) areas (p < .001). Out-of-pocket costs were $870 higher in rural ($2,677) compared to urban ($1,806) areas (p < .001). Dementia status was not an effect modifier. Health care costs are disproportionately higher among Latinx rural, relative to urban, residents. Addressing health care costs among Latinx rural residents is a public health priority.

Healthcare cost consciousness among physicians and their attitudes towards controlling costs in Jordan: a cross sectional study

BackgroundOne of the most significant factors influencing medication adherence and, ultimately, therapeutic outcomes for patients is the cost. The aim of this study was to examine the cost-containment strategies used by physicians in Jordan while focusing on the importance of cost consciousness in addressing healthcare costs and its consequences.MethodA quantitative study was conducted between June 19 and November 15, 2021, through a cross-sectional survey using a self-administered questionnaire.ResultsA total of 389 physicians participated in this study. Governments (65.6%), health insurance companies (60.2%), and pharmaceutical and device manufacturers (57.9%) were the most frequently mentioned entities as being primarily responsible for reducing healthcare costs. Participating physicians showed a high level of enthusiasm towards all domains of reducing healthcare costs with a mean percentage of 88.3% (standard deviation (SD): 0.04). When discussing physicians’ roles in containing healthcare costs and the effects of cost-conscious practice, most respondents agreed that there is currently too much emphasis on test and procedure costs (83.0%), that decision support tools that show costs would be helpful in their practice (84.5%), and that physicians need to take a more prominent role in limiting the use of unnecessary tests (86.0%). Around 70.0% of physicians agreed that they requested more tests when they did not know the patient well, and 80.0% of them stated that they considered the uncertainty involved in patient care to be disconcerting.ConclusionParticipating physicians showed a moderate level of cost consciousness in Jordan. However, this must be higher because it will eventually lead to cost-related nonadherence, which will have a negative impact on the patient’s health.

Responsibilities, Strategies, and Practice Factors in Clinical Cost Conversations: a US Physician Survey

Physicians play a key role in mitigating and managing costs in healthcare which are rising. Conduct a cross-sectional survey in 2017, comparing results to a 2012 survey to understand US physicians' evolving attitudes and strategies concerning healthcare costs. Random sample of 1200 US physicians from the AMA Masterfile. Physician views on responsibility for costs of care, enthusiasm for cost-saving strategies, cost-consciousness scale, and practice strategies on addressing cost. Among 1200 physicians surveyed in 2017, 489 responded (41%). In 2017, slightly more physicians reported that physicians have a major responsibility for addressing healthcare costs (32% vs. 27%, p = 0.03). In 2017, more physicians attributed "major responsibility" for addressing healthcare costs to pharmaceutical companies (68% vs. 56%, p < 0.001) and hospital and health systems (63% vs. 56%%, p = 0.008) in contrast to 2012. Fewer respondents in 2017 attributed major responsibility for addressing costs to trial lawyers (53% vs. 59%, p = 0.007) and patients (42% vs. 52%, p < 0.0001) as compared to 2012. Physician enthusiasm for patient-focused cost-containment strategies like high deductible health plans and higher co-pays (62% vs. 42%, p < 0.0001 and 62% vs. 39%, p < 0.0001, not enthusiastic, respectively) declined. Physicians reported that when they discussed cost, it resulted in a change in disease management 56% of the time. Cost-consciousness within surveyed physicians had not changed meaningfully in 2017 since 2012 (31.7 vs. 31.2). Most physicians continued to agree that decision support tools showing costs would be helpful in their practice (> 70%). After adjusting for specialty, political affiliation, practice setting, age, and gender, only democratic/independent affiliation remained a significant predictor of cost-consciousness. US physicians increasingly attribute responsibility for rising healthcare costs to organizations and express less enthusiasm for strategies that increase patient out-of-pocket cost. Interventions that focus on physician knowledge and communication strategies regarding cost of care may be helpful.

Investigating consumer hospital choice: Demand and supply-side levers could address health care costs

ObjectivePolicies that aim to steer patients from higher to lower cost providers of comparable quality have potential to impact health care cost growth – but their effectiveness depends, in part, on consumer perceptions of value and willingness to make tradeoffs. We sought to understand what was required to shift substantial numbers of consumers to higher-value care settings for several “shoppable” conditions. MethodsA discrete choice experiment (DCE) was conducted to elicit patient preferences for hospital type. We used an Internet panel of 1005 Massachusetts residents to conduct this experiment in 2016. The DCE data were analyzed using alternative-specific conditional logit regression. ResultsConsumers reported large influences of out of pocket costs, physician referrals and quality ratings on their choice of hospital. For example, up to a third of consumers would shift from Academic Medical Centers to community hospitals if the latter had higher quality ratings, lower copays or a physician referral. Choice of site for maternity care was most influenced by physician referral; cancer treatment and orthopedic procedures by quality ratings; and MRI by cost, suggesting that patients prioritize quality over cost as perceived risk increases. Conclusions and implicationsOur findings provide guidance for identifying promising policy levers that most influence consumer choice of provider. However, the extent to which potential levers can influence choice is likely to be dependent upon the kind of care being sought.

A state-led framework for value-based purchasing to incent integration

Addressing healthcare costs requires incenting providers to address both physical and behavioral health conditions, as well as social determinants of health. The most complex, and expensive, patients are often those with comorbid mental illness and/or addiction, who are at higher risk for exposure to violence, food insecurity, unstable housing and other adversities that negatively affect health. Yet today’s value-based payment models and associated quality measures do not incent providers to address patients’ behavioral and social needs. We propose a state-led framework for moving towards fully integrated accountability through improved value-based payment and measurement.

Role Modeling and Regional Health Care Intensity: U.S. Medical Student Attitudes Toward and Experiences With Cost-Conscious Care.

To examine medical student attitudes toward cost-conscious care and whether regional health care intensity is associated with reported exposure to physician role-modeling behaviors related to cost-conscious care. Students at 10 U.S. medical schools were surveyed in 2015. Thirty-five items assessed attitudes toward, perceived barriers to and consequences of, and observed physician role-modeling behaviors related to cost-conscious care (using scales for cost-conscious and potentially wasteful behaviors; Cronbach alphas of 0.82 and 0.81, respectively). Regional health care intensity was measured using Dartmouth Atlas End-of-Life Chronic Illness Care data: ratio of physician visits per decedent compared with the U.S. average, ratio of specialty to primary care physician visits per decedent, and hospital care intensity index. Of 5,992 students invited, 3,395 (57%) responded. Ninety percent (2,640/2,932) agreed physicians have a responsibility to contain costs. However, 48% (1,1416/2,960) thought ordering a test is easier than explaining why it is unnecessary, and 58% (1,685/2,928) agreed ordering fewer tests will increase the risk of malpractice litigation. In adjusted linear regression analyses, students in higher-health-care-intensity regions reported observing significantly fewer cost-conscious role-modeling behaviors: For each one-unit increase in the three health care intensity measures, scores on the 21-point cost-conscious role-modeling scale decreased by 4.4 (SE 0.7), 3.2 (0.6), and 3.9 (0.6) points, respectively (all P < .001). Medical students endorse barriers to cost-conscious care and encounter conflicting role-modeling behaviors, which are related to regional health care intensity. Enhancing role modeling in the learning environment may help prepare future physicians to address health care costs.

Unconventional Gas and Oil Drilling Is Associated with Increased Hospital Utilization Rates.

Over the past ten years, unconventional gas and oil drilling (UGOD) has markedly expanded in the United States. Despite substantial increases in well drilling, the health consequences of UGOD toxicant exposure remain unclear. This study examines an association between wells and healthcare use by zip code from 2007 to 2011 in Pennsylvania. Inpatient discharge databases from the Pennsylvania Healthcare Cost Containment Council were correlated with active wells by zip code in three counties in Pennsylvania. For overall inpatient prevalence rates and 25 specific medical categories, the association of inpatient prevalence rates with number of wells per zip code and, separately, with wells per km2 (separated into quantiles and defined as well density) were estimated using fixed-effects Poisson models. To account for multiple comparisons, a Bonferroni correction with associations of p<0.00096 was considered statistically significant. Cardiology inpatient prevalence rates were significantly associated with number of wells per zip code (p<0.00096) and wells per km2 (p<0.00096) while neurology inpatient prevalence rates were significantly associated with wells per km2 (p<0.00096). Furthermore, evidence also supported an association between well density and inpatient prevalence rates for the medical categories of dermatology, neurology, oncology, and urology. These data suggest that UGOD wells, which dramatically increased in the past decade, were associated with increased inpatient prevalence rates within specific medical categories in Pennsylvania. Further studies are necessary to address healthcare costs of UGOD and determine whether specific toxicants or combinations are associated with organ-specific responses.

Views of US Physicians About Controlling Health Care Costs

Physicians' views about health care costs are germane to pending policy reforms. To assess physicians' attitudes toward and perceived role in addressing health care costs. A cross-sectional survey mailed in 2012 to 3897 US physicians randomly selected from the AMA Masterfile. Enthusiasm for 17 cost-containment strategies and agreement with an 11-measure cost-consciousness scale. A total of 2556 physicians responded (response rate = 65%). Most believed that trial lawyers (60%), health insurance companies (59%), hospitals and health systems (56%), pharmaceutical and device manufacturers (56%), and patients (52%) have a "major responsibility" for reducing health care costs, whereas only 36% reported that practicing physicians have "major responsibility." Most were "very enthusiastic" for "promoting continuity of care" (75%), "expanding access to quality and safety data" (51%), and "limiting access to expensive treatments with little net benefit" (51%) as a means of reducing health care costs. Few expressed enthusiasm for "eliminating fee-for-service payment models" (7%). Most physicians reported being "aware of the costs of the tests/treatments [they] recommend" (76%), agreed they should adhere to clinical guidelines that discourage the use of marginally beneficial care (79%), and agreed that they "should be solely devoted to individual patients' best interests, even if that is expensive" (78%) and that "doctors need to take a more prominent role in limiting use of unnecessary tests" (89%). Most (85%) disagreed that they "should sometimes deny beneficial but costly services to certain patients because resources should go to other patients that need them more." In multivariable logistic regression models testing associations with enthusiasm for key cost-containment strategies, having a salary plus bonus or salary-only compensation type was independently associated with enthusiasm for "eliminating fee for service" (salary plus bonus: odds ratio [OR], 3.3, 99% CI, 1.8-6.1; salary only: OR, 4.3, 99% CI, 2.2-8.5). In multivariable linear regression models, group or government practice setting (β = 0.87, 95% CI, 0.29 to 1.45, P = .004; and β = 0.99, 95% CI, 0.20 to 1.79, P = .01, respectively) and having a salary plus bonus compensation type (β = 0.82; 95% CI, 0.32 to 1.33; P = .002) were positively associated with cost-consciousness. Finding the "uncertainty involved in patient care disconcerting" was negatively associated with cost-consciousness (β = -1.95; 95% CI, -2.71 to -1.18; P < .001). In this survey about health care cost containment, US physicians reported having some responsibility to address health care costs in their practice and expressed general agreement about several quality initiatives to reduce cost but reported less enthusiasm for cost containment involving changes in payment models.

Pharmacoeconomic Implications of Lenalidomide Maintenance Therapy in Multiple Myeloma and the Impact On Survival

AbstractAbstract 601 Background:Despite therapeutic advances and availability of novel agents, multiple myeloma (MM) remains an incurable malignant disorder and strategies to improve survival are being actively sought. One such approach is the use of maintenance therapy with lenalidomide (Revlimid®; R), which has shown PFS benefit, without conclusive evidence of OS benefit except in a selected population (CALGB100104). Shrinking resources with rising healthcare costs warrant careful assessment of the financial impact of expensive anticancer therapeutics in context with the true benefit to patients. Methods:This analysis was not supported or solicited by any pharmaceutical industry. For our pharmacoeconomic study we selected the MM-015 trial; a large (n=459) double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled phase III study that investigated the efficacy of continuous R maintenance after initial therapy with melphalan/prednisone/lenalidomide (MPR) in a uniform cohort of patients (≥65 years, newly diagnosed MM, transplant ineligible). The three study arms were MP, MPR and MPR followed by R maintenance (MPR-R). The cost-effectiveness model included medical costs (drugs, office visits, laboratory tests) and costs of treatment-related adverse events (AEs) for an individual patient. Drug costs were calculated from the average wholesale price, using average US adult weight of 80kg. Office visit and laboratory test costs were obtained using Medicare reimbursement fees. Costs of AEs were obtained from peer-reviewed publications. Incidence of AEs was obtained from the published MM-015 trial. Costs were valued in 2011 US dollars. Cost calculations included: (1) computing distribution of the numbers of induction and maintenance courses completed by patients treated with each of these regimens; (2) computing the per-course probabilities of the occurrence of individual AEs during induction and maintenance for each of these toxicities; (3) combining these data with the treatment costs and costs of individual AEs to compute cumulative cost of treatment through 40 maintenance cycles and cumulative cost of treatment per progression-free survivor. Summary measures computed for each treatment: (1) average cumulative cost per patient (ACCP) treated; (2) average cumulative cost per progression free survivor (ACCPFS), representing the average cumulated cost/patient who is progression free at that time. The distribution of courses received was obtained from the MM-015 publication. Data on subsequent therapy at the time of disease progression was not available. Results:Median follow up reported in the published study was 30 months. Median PFS was 13 months (MP), 14 months (MPR) and 31 months (MPR-R) in the three arms. Table 1 summarizes the calculated ACCP and the ACCPFS of each regimen for induction and maintenance treatment. MPR-R was the most expensive of the three arms in terms of total cumulative costs, with an ACCP of $231,314, compared to $166,211 for MPR and $17,972 for MP. However, taking the efficacy of each regimen into account (ACCPFS), MPR greatly exceeds both MPR-R and MP ($1,540,139 vs. $516,322 vs. $309,346), while the difference between MPR-R and MP was less distinct. Figure 1 illustrates the exponential increase in ACCPFS of MPR, compared to MPR-R and MP.Table 1TreatmentACCPACCPFSMPMPRMPR-RMPMPRMPR-RInduction (9 cycles)Medical2,18541,57541,5752,61448,27248,273AE7,88555,08155,0819,43163,95463,956Total10,07196,65696,65612,045112,226112,229Maintenance (36 cycles)Medical3,98971,392139,53668,660661,532311,461AE13,98394,81991,778240,686878,607204,861Total17,972166,211231,314309,3461,540,139516,322 [Display omitted] Conclusions:From a cost-effectiveness perspective, if MPR is used as the induction regimen, maintenance with R should be strongly considered, as MPR without maintenance does not confer any significant benefit over MP, while incurring a much higher cost. However, the overall cost of MPR-R is substantial with no reported OS benefit at present. In the absence of clear survival benefit the financial burden of prolonged treatment becomes an important factor to consider prior to adopting this therapeutic strategy in MM. As part of a global strategy for addressing healthcare costs, it is important to consider this in appropriate medical decision making for patients, and to include cost-effectiveness analyses as a part of large prospective clinical trial efforts. Disclosures:No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.

States Look for Ways to Address Health Care Costs

States Look for Ways to Address Health Care Costs

Beyond The Efficiency Index: Finding A Better Way To Reduce Overuse And Increase Efficiency In Physician Care

Current strategies for addressing health care costs stress physician performance measurement and commonly use an efficiency index (EI). During seven years of conducting individual practitioner pay-for-performance (P4P), we found that using EIs hindered our work on reducing overuse of services. This paper offers an alternative approach through the identification of variation in key cost drivers. As proof of concept, we apply this model to hypertension care. We then describe a project that decreased apparent overuse of fiberoptic laryngoscopy among otorhinolaryngologists. Focusing directly on reducing overuse improves cost efficiency without the barriers imposed by EI methodology.

Getting Real About the Uninsured Problem

THE NUMBER OF Americans who are uninsured has continued its long-term rise despite a wide range of state coverage initiatives over several decades. As Emily Friedman notes, the problem has recently become more acute because of the combined effects of a weak economy and the escalating costs of healthcare and coverage. Previous coverage expansions have not solved the uninsured problem because they tried to shape publicly financed patches to fill in the coverage gaps left by narrow categorical programs, a counterproductive relationship between publicly financed and private, employer-financed coverage, and a Byzantine labyrinth of cross-subsidies and counterincentives. Previous efforts have neither established nor conveyed a coherent vision of the mutual and individual responsibilities needed to achieve both affordable access for and participation by all Americans. Friedman is right to decry excessive hospital charges to low-income, uninsured patients as a moral failure. Such patients are hapless victims of our collective decision not to extend them the coverage and financial access they need. Charitable hospitals should make sure they do not further abuse such patients through unconscionable billing practices. But the court cases brought against not-for-profit hospitals bear vivid testimony to the schizophrenic views that underlie America's uninsured problem. We expect that everyone should be provided medical care when they urgently need it but that no one should be required to participate in or contribute to the insurance coverage needed to undergird the health delivery system. Previous coverage expansions have focused on the very real need to cover vulnerable low-income populations. But, as Chollet notes, where such expansions extend substantially above poverty levels, they often substitute publicly financed coverage for employerfinanced coverage. Thus, such expansions often cost states more than expected and are too much to sustain when the economy and state revenues decline. GETTING REAL ABOUT WHAT THE PROBLEMS ARE Previous cover-the-uninsured proposals and campaigns have emphasized the negative effects of being uninsured. The widely supported Cover the Uninsured Week heralds the need for all Americans to have access to coverage. But many nonpoor uninsured people are, and perceive themselves to be, relatively low risk; they expect-quite reasonably-that in the unlikely event they do suffer a traumatic injury, the system is obliged to care for them. What such campaigns tend not to convey to the majority who do participate in coverage are other insights about how the system is already unfair to them, such as the following: 1. Insured people ultimately pay for uncompensated care provided to uninsured individuals. 2. As the uninsured population has grown, many hospitals' capacity to provide trauma care and other services has been stretched to the breaking point. 3. Where emergency care providers are forced to close their doors, critical services will not be available where and when lives may literally be at stake. Many Americans might be motivated to support reforms that ensure broad participation in coverage if they understood in such concrete terms how current coverage policies are fundamentally unfair to them and dysfunctional for the medical care system on which they rely. While a broad range of approaches is available for achieving coverage of the uninsured, any real solution must include two basic ingredients: (1) government needs to somehow ensure that coverage is readily available and affordable for everyone and (2) individuals need to participate in that coverage. Addressing Healthcare Costs and the Uninsured Despite concerns over real and pressing cost problems, it would be both unfortunate and counterproductive to hold the uninsured problem hostage to the healthcare cost problem. Achieving accountability for costs is the essential prerequisite for any form of cost discipline. …