Total annual spending per person with employer-sponsored health insurance increased 18.4% to nearly $5,900 between 2014 and 2018, according to a Health Care Cost Institute report.
The annual spending increase of about 4% a year is not trivial, according to Niall Brennan, president and CEO of the Health Care Cost Institute (HCCI).
“I don’t consider growth rates in excess of 4% a year moderate, nor do I think 18% cumulative growth over 5 years is moderate,” Brennan said in a conference call with reporters. “My guess is that the average American has not seen an 18% increase in their take-home pay over the last 5 years.”
The report attributes the spending growth among those with employer-sponsored health plans to increases in service prices, the number of services used, and an aging population that includes more women than men. The findings, which were based on claims data from four large insurers, closely align with other studies, including CMS’ annual National Health Expenditure report.
Reference: Health Care Cost Institute
However, the HCCI report was not meant to identify the reasons for the surge in health care spending.
“Our report is designed to give a ‘what is happening’ rather than speculate as to ‘why this is happening,’” John Hargraves, senior researcher at HCCI, said in the conference call. “We’re not looking at trends regarding patient behaviors and the choices they make regarding their health and health care use.”
Frank Campbell, MHA, MBA, a professor at Tulane University’s Freeman School of Business, told Healio Primary Care that one way physicians can lower health care spending is by providing telehealth services for certain conditions, such as diagnosing and treating common colds and ear infections.
“The software needed to run telemedicine platforms is usually around $1,000,” he said in an interview. “The costs of the hardware to provide specific services to patients via telemedicine depends largely on what the physician wants to provide. So, it is only as expensive as physicians want it to be.”
“The computer system used to check patients in, the real estate needed to set up an office and the costs needed to run that office likely cost more than telemedicine,” Campbell continued.
Data appear to support Campbell’s assertion. In a small study published last year, researchers found that a realtime telemedicine otolaryngology clinic provided significant cost savings — $182.09 per patient encounter and $333.22 per patient annually. A larger study published in 2016 found that the use of telehealth in pre-hospital emergency medical services is more cost-effective compared with the traditional EMS “treat and transport to the ED” approach.
He noted that many telemedicine providers supply patients with diagnostic packs. The patient’s insurance plan usually covers the cost of the packs and allows them to perform clinical tasks such as taking their temperature or BP, further decreasing cost to patients and physicians. He also said that patients who visit an emergency department in person will “usually” have a copay of about $100. But with telemedicine, the copay is “sometimes” about $25.
Frank Campbell
Campbell also noted that telemedicine allows physicians to see more patients, which increases reimbursement possibilities. “With telemedicine, the second a visit is over, it’s over,” he said. “Nobody’s moving from exam room to exam room.”
“There are some physicians who, if they have a patient who presents with and describes flu-like symptoms, they don’t test for the flu anymore,” Campbell said. “These physicians save a couple of hundred bucks by not doing a flu test and go straight to writing a prescription that will treat the patient’s flu symptoms.” – by Janel Miller
References:
Health Care Cost Institute. Health care cost and utilization report (HCCUR). https://healthcostinstitute.org/research/annual-reports. Accessed February 13, 2020.
Health Care Cost Institute. Why the data matters. Accessed Feb. 13, 2020.
Langabeer JR, et al. J Telemed Telecare. 2017;doi:10.1177/1357633X16680541.
Phillips R, et al. Laryngoscope Investig Otolaryngol. 2019;doi:10.1002/lio2.244.
Disclosures: Campbell reports no relevant financial disclosures. Brennan and Hargraves are employed by HCCI.
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Health care spending rises nearly 20% in 5 years - Healio
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