I’ve decided to start a blog because every day I hear stories and statistics that raise alarm about the state of America’s health care system. The health policy experts in the circles I run in as CEO of The Leapfrog Group already know all about it, but the public would probably find them astonishing.
One out of four patients admitted to hospitals will be harmed by a mistake or accident there, according to a recent intensive review by the Office of the Inspector General. Harms could be minor, like a bruise or slight burn, or major like an infection requiring amputation of a limb or months long stay in the hospital. In the worst cases, harms could result in death. Bottom line, according to the numbers in this new study: you are less likely to be harmed as a soldier deployed to Afghanistan than as a patient admitted to a hospital.
Meanwhile, according to one of the country’s most, at the National Health Insurance Reform Congress this week in Washington (which I had the privilege to speak at), experts recounted how the U.S. budget deficit will escalate to frightening proportions, mostly to pay for Medicare and Medicaid. Health costs are literally jeopardizing our economy. We have the most expensive health care system in the world, twice as expensive as the second-most expensive health system in the world (Canada).
We can and must do better. The Leapfrog Group applies the principles of the free market to the healthcare industry. We publicly report on the performance of hospitals on safety and death rates and infections, so Americans can “shop” for hospitals the way they shop for any other product or service important to them. We’re moving toward adding cost data–but that’s incredibly hard to get so it’s taking a while. Follow my postings and you’ll see if first when it’s ready. Because we report by hospital on this performance, we can point very specifically to the problems in our health care system. Leapfrog is nonprofit and our members are employer and other group purchasers of health benefits.
There are many good ideas about how to fix this broken and bankrupting health care system. One that is most controversial is also one that we know works in every other industry on earth: apply the principles of the free market. Consumers should shop for health services based on real-time, unbiased information about the quality and cost-effectiveness of those services. Good performers get the business, bad performers don’t.
Can free market principles work in health care? We have some limited evidence it can. For instance, plastic surgery is an area of medicine that has progressed in stark contrast to other medical specialties and services in the U.S. Costs and prices have declined dramatically, while outcomes and safety of procedures have improved significantly. Why? Because consumers usually pay out of pocket for these procedures, not through health insurance. They are savvy shoppers and the market has responded.
Leapfrog will continue to drive forward on market reform in health care. We need your help. Have you been harmed or helped or both by a hospital stay? Do you have a story to share? I welcome hearing from you.
leapfrogceo 