As health care costs rise, policymakers and industry leaders are increasingly interested in developing accurate ways to measure and, ultimately, to try to reduce them for the individual patient as well as for society as a whole. RAND researchers have sought to measure the health care costs of state and federal health plans, hospice treatment, and certain health behaviors.
Commentary
While the current state of the evidence does not provide clear guidance to policymakers seeking to address the twin pillars of health care quality and cost, it is apparent that researchers must produce more detailed data on how to reduce health care spending while improving quality, writes Peter Hussey.
Commentary
Given the size of the annual “health care spend”—$2.7 trillion—summing up the savings associated with very minor cost-saving policy changes is likely to achieve significant aggregate savings, writes Jeffrey Wasserman.
Journal Article
A systematic review found that evidence is mixed and inconsistent regarding both the direction and magnitude of the association between health care costs and quality.
Journal Article
With the exception of office visits, prices for most common health services don't differ between consumer-directed health plans and traditional plans.
Journal Article
Policymakers in countries around the world are faced with rising health care costs and are debating ways to reform health care to reduce expenditures.
Journal Article
Health plans and Medicare are using cost profiles to identify which physicians account for more health care spending than others.
Blog
Physicians are in an ideal position to identify and eliminate health care waste by categorizing all medical services into four distinct types.
Research Brief
Current initiatives to report health care provider costs are unlikely to motivate consumers to select lower-cost providers. Public reports could better engage consumers by focusing on out-of-pocket costs and high-value providers.
Report
When enacting, implementing, and evaluating health care reform, policymakers should consider potential spillover effects on workers' compensation insurance. The experience of Massachusetts's heath care reform suggests that reform may reduce medical costs.
Journal Article
The need is urgent to bring US health care costs into a sustainable range for both public and private payers.
Journal Article
Public reporting of health care costs is intended to motivate consumers to choose lower cost providers, and motivate providers to lower costs to retain market share. Measures should be chosen based on which pathway policymakers intend to influence.
Past Event
RAND economist Christine Eibner spoke at a Bloomberg Government and RAND Corporation event in Washington, D.C. Eibner briefed the attendees on the results of her recent study, How Would Eliminating the Individual Mandate Affect Health Coverage and Premium Costs?
Journal Article
This paper presents a five-point checklist to guide those who want to improve their performance reporting methods. The goal is to minimize the frequency and severity of misclassifying providers and avoid adverse unintended consequences of reporting.
Commentary
Providing physicians with cost data in real time automatically as a part of the electronic medical record could make them better purchasers for their patients and provide better value, writes Robert H. Brook.
Journal Article
The technology of the ubiquitous electronic shopping cart could be adapted to help physicians understand the cost of the services they order for patients, and possibly change the mix and total costs of the products in the cart.
Commentary
Most will agree with the undeniable fact that a new era in US medicine and US health care begins in less than two years. The key question is what potential measures should be monitored to determine both anticipated and unanticipated effects of the new law on the health of the US population, writes Robert H. Brook.
Commentary
A scientific and political case could be made to amend health care legislation to require that cost be included in the studies that the PCORI funds, writes Robert H. Brook.
Report
Three essays each focusing on one topic in economics of health behaviors in China.
Report
Medicare's payment for physician work and malpractice liability expenses is the same regardless of where a service is provided, but payments differ for facility-related components of care.
Past Event
In this October 2011 Congressional Briefing, Art Kellermann will address the components of health care spending for the typical American family and how it affects buying power; whether slower health care cost growth would increase available family income; and whether the nation is getting sufficient value for its health care spending.
RAND® is a registered trademark. Copyright © 1994-2013 RAND Corporation. Last Modified: September 28, 2010 Site Feedback »
