In low estimates there are hundreds of millions of dollars wasted each year in our healthcare system. Waste from unnecessary treatments, over prescribing drugs, fraud, and over servicing patients with unneeded tests or procedures. This blog could be 100 pages to dive into each of these area. I think the one that bothers me the most is the over servicing patients by physicians.
Doctors and clinicians are fearful of being sued for malpractice
I’ve spoken to countless doctors that speak about this. When a patient comes to them with an issue, there are many avenues they can explore, and based on their training and experience, they know its most likely narrowed down to only a few treatments. The physician’s fear is that IF they only explore and test for those solutions they feel are the root problem, they risk liability. If a health issue has potentially 15 ways to treat or test, many physicians will test or treat all of the “possibles”. They do that, because if they DON’T, and in the unlikely event they are wrong, the possibility of a lawsuit is very real. So who pays for all of these unnecessary tests? Yes….we all do.
Fraud is very much alive and thriving in our healthcare system
CMS (Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services) estimates that fraud and improper billing practices cost our system close to $41 BILLION dollars each year. Fraud can include improper coding, improper billing practices, and just straight up fraudulent billing. Couple this with the providers over medicating and/or over servicing and you can add even more to that number.
Employers can help by educating their employees and workforce
The site: www.choosingwisely.org can help educate #employees about unnecessary tests, treatment, and procedures. Having conversations with the employees, maybe at Open Enrollment with their broker, about abuses and problems with the #EmployeeBenefit system at their work. Having an active #HealthInsurance broker is key, and keeping the dialogue open to help educate not only the employees but the employers as well.
Brauer Insurance is a family owned and operated #GroupBenefits agency that helps companies with under 100 employees to strategize their Employee Benefit offering. We focus on not only saving money, but the #compliance aspect of Group Health Plans
www.brauerinsurance.com (877) 421-4325