Study Shows Health Care Reform Will Spark Cost Increases, But Improve Efficiency

Julie Ritzer Ross | | Radiology Business | Business Intelligence
Professionals at health care organizations nationwide believe health care reform will spark increases in health care costs, but anticipate that the latter will be tempered by enhanced access to care as well as improved organizational efficiency. This is among findings of the Health Care Reform Readiness Survey conducted by Buck Consultants, a Xerox Company subsidiary that offers human resource and benefits consulting services. Specifically, 75% of 200 respondents to the survey say health care costs will increase due to health care reform, with 43% expecting the increase to be significant. Patients will benefit most from health care reform, participants contend, and challenges exist for employer health plans and hospital systems. Most expect the quality of health care to improve or remain the same over the next five years. Additionally, more than 90% percent of respondents intend, through higher employee contributions to health plans or by reducing plan coverage, to pass some of the additional costs to their employees. Nonetheless, 57% claim they will not consider eliminating health plan coverage for their employees, and 48% percent want to improve employee health by increasing wellness initiatives. In an equally significant vein, respondents report plans to meet health care reform’s increased access to care by focusing more on cooperation and collaboration around patient care (84%), taking steps to reduce patient re-admissions (74%), using electronic health records (85%), using evidence-based or predictive-modeling technology tools (66%), and creating an accountable care organization, or ACO (43%). Other plans include assessing IT requirements (82%), implementing quality measures for physicians (69%), developing an integrated network (60%), and developing medical home services (40%). For additional survey results, click here: http://news.xerox.com/pr/xerox/Buck-Consultants-A-Xerox-Company-Health-Care-Reform-Readiness-Survey.aspx?link_page_rss=213365,

Julie Ritzer Ross,

Contributor

Related Content

Orano Med breaks ground on $265M thorium production site
Image-interpretation market scoreboard: Radiologists 72%, others 28%
Lantheus lands rights to budding radiopharmaceuticals for initial outlay of $35M
17 short-term strategies to address the national radiologist shortage
‘SR’ onboards another independent practice, its 1st in the Natural State
Analysis: Allied radiology professionals generate millions of dollars per year in indirect revenues alone

Around the web

Health Imaging
Nearly $800,000 settlement offered to family of man who died during MRI exam

The patient, who was being cared for in the ICU, was not accompanied or monitored by nursing staff during his exam, despite being sedated.

Cardiovascular Business
Global shortage of nuclear imaging isotopes may be over

The nuclear imaging isotope shortage of molybdenum-99 may be over now that the sidelined reactor is restarting. ASNC's president says PET and new SPECT technologies helped cardiac imaging labs better weather the storm.

Cardiovascular Business
‘A huge win’: CMS significantly increases Medicare payments for cardiac CT

CMS has more than doubled the CCTA payment rate from $175 to $357.13. The move, expected to have a significant impact on the utilization of cardiac CT, received immediate praise from imaging specialists.