Preventing ruin, or the ruin of United States health care?

Journal of Legal Medicine

Volumn 32, Issue 1, 2011, Pages 61-76

  Goodman, David C ^a  

^a DARTMOUTH INSTITUTE FOR HEALTH POLICY AND CLINICAL PRACTICE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ARTICLE; COST BENEFIT ANALYSIS; ECONOMICS; FORECASTING; HEALTH CARE COST; HEALTH CARE DELIVERY; HEALTH CARE ORGANIZATION; HEALTH CARE POLICY; HEALTH CARE QUALITY; HEALTH SERVICE; HUMAN; MEDICAL FEE; MEDICARE; NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE; PHYSICIAN; POLITICS; PRACTICE GUIDELINE; UNITED STATES;

COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS; DELIVERY OF HEALTH CARE; FEE-FOR-SERVICE PLANS; FORECASTING; GUIDELINE ADHERENCE; HEALTH CARE RATIONING; HEALTH EXPENDITURES; HEALTH SERVICES ACCESSIBILITY; HEALTH SERVICES MISUSE; HEALTH SERVICES NEEDS AND DEMAND; HUMANS; MEDICARE; NATIONAL HEALTH INSURANCE, UNITED STATES; PATIENT PROTECTION AND AFFORDABLE CARE ACT; PHYSICIANS; POLITICS; QUALITY OF HEALTH CARE; UNITED STATES;

EID: 79952655300     PISSN: 01947648     EISSN: 1521057X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01947648.2011.550829     Document Type: Article

References (49)

1. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Pub. L. No. 111-148, 124 Stat. 119 (2010); see also The Health Care and Education Reconciliation Act of 2010, Pub. L. No. 111-152, 124 Stat. 1029 (2010).
2. CONGRESSIONAL BUDGET OFFICE, HEALTH CARE, http://www.cbo.gov/ publications/collections/health.cfm (last visited Nov. 21, 2010).
3. See, e.g., David Cutler, How Health Care Reform Must Bend the Cost Curve, 29 HEALTH AFFAIRS 1131 (2010);
4. see also Douglas Holtz-Eakin & Michael J. Ramlet, Health Care Reform Is Likely to Widen Federal Budget Deficits, Not Reduce Them, 29 HEALTH AFFAIRS 1136 (2010).
5. Peter R. Orszag & Ezekiel J. Emanuel, Health Care Reform and Cost Control, 363 NEW ENG. J. MED. 601, 602 (2010).
6. See generally Jeanne Shaheen, Press Release: Wellpoint's New Hampshire Rate Hikes Are Why We Need Reform Now, http://shaheen.senate.gov/news/press/ release/?id=1C415146-7027-46CF-96AFC1FD8694D488 (last visited Nov. 21, 2010).
7. Robert Pear, Confirmation Fight on Health Chief , N.Y. TIMES, June 22, 2010, at A18.
8. ALAN EARL-SLATER, DICTIONARY OF HEALTH ECONOMICS 127 (1999) (benignly defining rationing as a "method of allocating resources");
9. ELIZABETH MARTIN, CONCISE MEDICAL DICTIONARY 603 (8th ed., 2010) (benignly defining rationing as the "process of allocating health-care resources among a population when demand outstrips supply"). Cf. OXFORD AmeriCAN DICTIONARY OF CURRENT ENGLISH 644 (Frank Abate ed., 2010) (defining rationing as a "fixed official allowance of food, clothing, etc., in a time of shortage," thereby implying harm). None of these definitions, however, reflect current political usage. Between 2005 and 2010, for example, all New York Times articles used the term "rationing" pejoratively, implying patient harm. See, e.g., Robert Pear, A Basis Is Seen for Some Health Plan Fears Among the Elderly, N.Y. TIMES, Aug. 21, 2009, at A19 (reporting that Democrats had explained that "the fears of older Americans about possible rationing of health care [were] based on myths and falsehoods").
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15. See NAT'L HEART, LUNG, & BLOOD INSTITUTE, EXPERT PANEL REPORT 3: GUIDELINES FOR THE DIAGNOSIS AND MANAGEMENT OF ASTHMA 349-50 (U.S. Dep't of Health and Human Services 2007). The delivery devices for each brand of medication are somewhat different, and this may occasionally make a drug more suitable for a particular patient.
16. This assumes that the higher volume practice has not had to spend a lot more for information technology or exam rooms, negating the lower physician and nurse inputs.
17. For the most current and comprehensive summary of the broad field of medical care evaluation and outcomes research, see generally JOHN E. WENNBERG, TRACKING MEDICINE: A RESEARCHER'S QUEST TO UNDERSTAND HEALTH CARE (2010).
18. See, e.g., U.S. PREVENTIVE SERVICES TASK FORCE, GUIDE TO CLINICAL PREVENTIVE SERVICES 2010- 2011 (2010), http://www.ahrq.gov/clinic/pocketgd.htm (providing scope and limits of evidenced-based medicine);
19. see also COCHRANE COLLABORATION, http://www.cochrane.org.
20. U.S. PREVENTIVE SERVICES TASK FORCE, supra note 16.
21. See generally Richard A. Deyo et al., Trends, Major Medical Complications, and Charges Associated with Surgery for Lumbar Spinal Stenosis in Older Adults, 303 J.A.M.A. 1259 (2010).
22. David C. Goodman et al., Benchmarking the US Physician Workforce: An Alternative to Needs-Based or Demand-Based Planning, 276 J.A.M.A. 1811, 1813-16 (1996).
23. See generallyWilliam L. Cull et al., Where Do Graduating Pediatric Residents Seek Practice Positions?, 5 AMBULATORY PEDS. 228 (2005);
24. Charles W. LeBaron et al., Vaccination Coverage and Physician Distribution in the United States 1997, 107 PEDIATRICS E31 (2001).
25. David C. Goodman et al., Are Neonatal Intensive Care Resources Located Where Need Is Greatest? Regional Variation in Neonatologists, Beds, and Low Birth Weight Newborns, 108 PEDIATRICS 426, 427-30 (2001).
26. DAVID E. WENNBERG, THE DARTRMOUTH ATLAS OF CARDIOVASCULAR HEALTH CARE (1999).
27. KatherineBaicker&AmitabhChandra, Medicare Spending, the PhysicianWorkforce, and Beneficiaries' Quality of Care, W4 HEALTH AFFAIRS 184 (2004), http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/hlthaff.w4. 184v1.pdf;
28. see also Barbara Starfield et al., The Effects of Specialist Supply on Populations' Health: Assessing the Evidence, W5 HEALTH AFFAIRS 97 (2005), http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/hlthaff. w5.97v1.pdf.
29. David C.Goodman et al., The Relation Between the Availability of Neonatal Intensive Care and Neonatal Mortality, 346 NEW ENG. J. MED. 1538 (2002).
30. See generally Mervyn Susser, The Logic in Ecological: I. The Logic of Analysis, 84 AM. J. PUB. HEALTH 825, 825-28 (1994);
31. Mervyn Susser, The Logic in Ecological: II. The Logic of Design, 84 AM. J. PUB. HEALTH 830, 830-35 (1994). (Pubitemid 24237365)
32. Chiang-Hua Chang, Inter-Specialty Differences in Outcomes Associated with Adult Primary Care Physician Supply (Mar. 11, 2009) (unpublished Ph.D. dissertation, Dartmouth College) (on file with author).
33. John E. Wennberg et al., Tracking the Care of Patients with Chronic Illness, in DARTMOUTH ATLAS OF HEALTH CARE 2008, at 42-65 (2008);
34. see also David C. Goodman et al., End-of-Life Care at Academic Medical Centers: Implications for Future Workforce Requirements, 25 HEALTH AFFAIRS 521, 523-27 (2006).
35. For more information on decision aids being used to assist with "shared decision making," see FOUND. INFORMED MED. DECISION MAKING, http://www.informedmedicaldecisions.org.
36. Amber E. Barnato et al., Racial and Ethnic Differences in Preferences for End-of-Life Treatment, 24 J. GEN. INT. MED. 695, 698-99 (2009).
37. Joan M. Teno et al., Bereaved Family Member Perceptions of Quality of End-of-Life Care in U.S. Regions with High and Low Usage of Intensive Care Unit Care, 53 J. AM. GERIATRICS SOC'Y 1905, 1908-10 (2005);
38. Joan M. Teno et al., A Controlled Trial to Improve Care for Seriously Ill Hospitalized Patients: The Study to Understand Prognoses and Preferences for Outcomes and Risks of Treatments (SUPPORT), 274 J.A.M.A. 1591, 1595-97 (1995);
39. see also Joan M. Teno et al., Role of Written Advance Directives in Decision Making: Insights from Qualitative and Quantitative Data, 13 J. GEN. INT. MED. 439, 445-46 (1998);
40. Peter H. Ditto et al., Advance Directives as Acts of Communication: A Randomized Controlled Trial, 161 ARCH. INT. MED. 421, 425-27 (2001).
41. See, e.g., Elliot S. Fisher et al., Trends and Regional Variation in Hip, Knee, and Shoulder Replacement, in BRIEF REPORT, DARTMOUTH ATLAS PROJECT (Apr. 2010), www.dartmouthatlas.org/downloads/reports/ Joint Replacement 0410.pdf.
42. Gillian A. Hawker et al., Determining the Need for Hip and Knee Arthroplasty: The Role of Clinical Severity and Patients' Preferences, 39 MED. CARE 206, 212-14 (2001).
43. See generally David C. Goodman & Elliot S. Fisher, Physician Workforce Crisis? Wrong Diagnosis, Wrong Prescription, 358 NEW ENG. J. MED. 1658, 1658-61 (2008). (Pubitemid 351549912)
44. See generally Richard A. Cooper, There's a Shortage of Specialists: Is Anyone Listening?, 77 ACAD. MED. 761, 761-66 (2002). (Pubitemid 36090433)
45. See Elliot S. Fisher et al., The Implications of Regional Variations in Medicare Spending Part 1: The Content, Quality, and Accessibility of Care, 138 ANNALS INT. MED. 273, 280-86 (2003);
46. Elliot S. Fisher et al., The Implications of Regional Variations in Medicare Spending Part 2: Health Outcomes and Satisfaction with Care, 138 ANNALS INT. MED. 288, 291-98 (2003).
47. Brian Dulisse & Jerry Cromwell, No Harm Found When Nurse Anesthetists Work Without Supervision by Physicians, 29 HEALTH AFFAIRS 1469, 1473-74 (2010).
48. David C. Goodman, Twenty-Year Trends in Regional Variations in the U.S. Physician Workforce, VAR HEALTH AFFAIRS 90, 94-95 (Oct. 7, 2004), at http://content.healthaffairs.org/cgi/reprint/hlthaff.var.90v1. pdf.
49. Robert Pear, Battle Takes Shape Over Expansion of Childrens' Insurance, N.Y. TIMES, July 9, 2007, at A13.