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this is the most pervasive myth in health care. standard economic analysis shows this is wrong and that we would save significant money with more people using
by nazgulnarsil 15y ago
this is the most pervasive myth in health care. standard economic analysis shows this is wrong and that we would save significant money with more people using emergency room care vs preventative care.
- losvedir 15y agoWait, really? That's surprising to me. A very cursory search seemed to indicate that prevention is better. Do you have sources? I'm interested.
- nazgulnarsil 15y agoquick ref: http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/04/prevention-cost.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/04/prevention-cost.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/10/preventive-heal.html http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/10/preventive-heal.html I'll look for some underlying data once I get out of class. AFAIK the problem isn't necessarily "best practices prevention" per se but the fact that we massively over-consume health care because of bad incentives.
- tremendo 15y agoBut of course as one of your links points out: The term "preventive medicine" no longer means what it used to: keeping people well by promoting healthy habits, like exercising, eating a balanced diet and not smoking. To their credit, both candidates ardently support that approach. But the medical model for prevention has become less about health promotion and more about early diagnosis. I'm pretty sure the original comment you replied to assumes the same meaning, that of promoting healthy behavior _before_ you become ill, not the newer and distorted meaning of "early detection".
- nazgulnarsil 15y agoIME experience people usually mean the actual preventative medicine and not promoting healthy lifestyles. Otherwise it wouldnt be such a big deal for how much of GDP is spent on medicine.
- loceng 15y agoI hope we use Genuine Progress Index (GPI) instead of GDP in the future. GPI takes into account more than just money spent and hard productivity.
- loceng 15y agoYup - nice to find out the term was highjacked to mean something different. :)
- loceng 15y agoI doubt this is a full and accurate analysis you're mentioning. Is it calculating productivity losses? What about emotional costs? Quality of life? Etc. etc. And at the same time - sure, if you just let people get sick and put a bandaid on them and get them out of system without actually being healthy - then I'm sure you can make it cheaper ... but not with the same results of health.