Reforming Patient Expectations

In my last column, I addressed the contribution of unrealistic patient expectations to unsustainable healthcare costs. I postulated that the competing societal goals of preserving freedom of choice while providing healthcare for all will produce a futile tug-of-war. I further warned that leaving the solutions to politicians and government administrators will inevitably lead to myopic reforms that threaten the doctor-patient relationship and fail to consistently incentivize good care. In this month’s column, I’d like to …

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Reforming Healthcare Starts With Reforming Patient Expectations

Back in 2008, while the Obama administration was first evaluating healthcare reform, Peter Orszag, then the director of the Congressional Budget Office, estimated that 5% of the nation’s gross domestic product, or $700 billion per year, goes to medical tests and procedures that have no proven positive impact on outcomes. Unaccounted for in this estimate are the billions more spent managing the often lifelong complications inherited from inappropriate tests and unproven procedures. MRIs that identify …

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