FINANCINGOFHEALTHCARE-UniversityofPittsburgh.pptVIP

FINANCING OF HEALTH CARE;Biographical Details;Why should doctors be concerned with health care financing?Rising health care costs in all nations leading to:Government cost control measures e.g. regulation of pricesInsurance company scrutiny ofactions of doctorsLoss of clinical autonomy for doctors e.g. doctors cannot prescribe expensive drugs or order expensive procedures without getting permission from other parties first ;Reasons for rising costs1. New technology e.g. MRI, organ transplants, renal dialysis, patented drugs to treat HIV/AIDS2. Population ageing3. Epidemiological transition4. Medicalisation of social problems5. Rising expectations of the publice.g. expect better “hotel services” in hospitals6. Systems of health care financing without proper cost control mechanisms7. Unwise spending by government e.g. building more and more hospitals8. Inefficient privatisation e.g. privatisation of Government Medical Store in Malaysia ;How do we pay for health care?1. Out-of-pocket i.e. patient and family pays 2. Employer pays e.g. employer reimbursesthe employee who sees the doctor3. Private insurance scheme 4. Charity or PVOs (private voluntary organisations) like National Kidney Foundation 5. Government i.e. through money raised from taxes (Britain’s National Health Service) or through a National Health Insurance scheme (South Korea and Taiwan)6. Medical Savings Accounts (Singapore’s Medisave)7. Foreign aid (important in poor countries);How to control costs?New Technology1. Control import and introduction of new technology e.g. technology assessment law and “certificate of need” law2. Get doctors to practise medicine more cost-effectively e.g. prescribe generic drugs, do not order expensive lab tests unnecessarily3. Better planning and utilisation of facilities e.g. whole of Australia has fewer MRI machines than the Kuala Lumpur region! Reduce the number of machines but utilise them more fully.;How to control costs?Pop