More care isn't always better, patients say
More isn’t necessarily better when it comes to medical care, a survey of Medicare patients shows.
Spending on healthcare varies widely across the United States, from $12,000 a year for Miami beneficiaries to $5,700 for comparable care in Minneapolis, previous studies have shown. But research led by Floyd J. Fowler of the University of Massachusetts-Boston shows that money spent on medical care didn’t necessarily match perceptions of the quality of that care.
More than 2,000 Medicare patients around the country were asked by phone and mailed questionnaire whether their needs were met, what they thought about the quality of their care as outpatients, and how they would rate their overall medical care.
People living in high-expenditure areas got more medical care than those living in lower-cost areas, judged by such measures as physician visits and cardiac tests. But when asked how they felt about their treatment, more patients living in lower-expenditure areas gave their quality of care top marks (9 or 10 on a scale of 0 to 10) than their peers in the high-priced parts of the country, by a margin of 63.3 percent compared to 55.4 percent.
“The results taken together document that spending more on medical care does not improve patient’s perceptions of the medical care they receive,” the authors write.
In an accompanying editorial, Gerard F. Anderson and Dr. Kalipso Chalkidou of the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health write that the United States may have reached the point of diminishing returns for spending on medical care.
"When patients are able to access good-quality objective information on the risks and benefits of the various treament alternatives, they do not necessarily choose more aggressive or more costly interventions," they say.
Comment
Permalink
EmailContributors
blogger
Elizabeth Cooney is a former
health reporter for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette, where she also was a
business reporter and an editor. Earlier in her career, she edited medical
books and journals at Little, Brown, and worked for Boston magazine.Boston Globe Health and Science staff:
- Gideon Gil, Health and Science Editor
- Ishani Ganguli, Short White Coat blogger
Did the researchers tease out the ages and educational levels of the patients in the lower-cost and presumably lower income areas? Sometimes older people and more timid, less medically minded people complain less. Often, too, a physician who takes a minute to actually talk to the patient and seem to care will achieve better compliance, more patient satisfaction and trust, and fewer lawsuits. Low tech, lower cost, but highly effective.
Nice to see some positive articles written about children and obesity. Even if it is leveling off, there is still a major problem facing the youth of the world, as this could be the first generation of children whose life expectancy will be lower than their parents.
Len Saunders
http://www.lensaunders.com
This blogger might want to review your comment before posting it.