A new study from Dartmouth is the latest to challenge the notion that high healthcare spending translates into better outcomes. Jonathan Skinner and Douglas Steiger looked at improvements in survival after heart attacks between 1986-2002. Nearly all the improvements occurred before 1997, but costs have continued to rise since. In addition, most improvements were in lower spending regions. It appears that simple and cheap interventions (such as giving aspirin and beta-blockers at discharge) were more important than more intensive treatment by specialists later. A companion paper by Stanford's Alan Garber suggests that care quality can be improved at a reduced cost, as we haven't yet "mastered the tools we already possess."
- see this release [1] from Health Affairs
Links:
[1] http://www.healthaffairs.org/press/janfeb0605.htm