Small Ideas for Saving Big Health Care Dollars

Jodi L. Liu ; Deborah Lai ; Jeanne S. Ringel ; Mary E. Vaiana ; Jeffrey Wasserman

RAND Corporation

RAND Corporation

关键词: Prescription Drug Benefits;    Alumni;    RAND-initiated;    Otitis Media;    Patient Safety;    Pharmaceutical Drugs;    Health Care Costs;    Medicare;    United States;    Emergency Medical Services;    Students;   

DOI  :  10.7249/RR390
RP-ID  :  RR-390-RC

学科分类：自然科学（综合）

美国|英语

来源: RAND Corporation Published Research

【 摘 要 】

A focused review of recent RAND Health research identified small ideas that could save the U.S. health care system $13 to $22 billion per year, in the aggregate, if successfully implemented. In the substituting lower-cost treatments category, ideas are to reduce use of anesthesia providers in routine gastroenterology procedures for low-risk patients, change payment policy for emergency transport, increase use of lower-cost antibiotics for treatment of acute otitis media, shift care from emergency departments to retail clinics when appropriate, eliminate co-payments for higher-risk patients taking cholesterol-lowering drugs, increase use of $4 generic drugs, and reduce Medicare Part D use of brand-name prescription drugs by patients with diabetes. In the patient safety category, ideas are to prevent three types of health care-associated infections: (1) central line-associated bloodstream infections, (2) ventilator-associated pneumonia, and (3) catheter-associated urinary tract infections; use preoperative and anesthesia checklists to prevent operative and postoperative events; prevent in-facility pressure ulcers; use ultrasound guidance for central line placement; and prevent recurrent falls.