Indicium Brevis VII

Startling Healthcare Statistics– This week I had the opportunity to interview my friend and colleague, Dr. Michael Roizen of the Cleveland Clinic, relating to a project for perfecting our country’s healthcare.  A proponent of wellness and a The New York Times best-selling author, Mike shared some startling statistics that got me thinking about how we should focus our time and energy in regards to healthcare reform and the health problems facing our country.  I’m coming to conclusion that we are nibbling around the edges of healthcare reform.  These statistics speak for themselves:

• If we cure heart disease, we could save $4.8 trillion over ten years.  This figure includes both the direct costs (cost of physicians and other professionals, hospital and nursing home services, medications, home health care, and other medicaldurables) and indirect costs (lost productivity resulting from illness and death).  For cancer, we will spend $4.6 trillion over the same ten year period.  Taken together, this represents about 1/3 of the entire healthcare expenditure.
• Wellness programs can save up to 75 percent of most medical costs.
• America’s healthcare system is twice as expensive as Europe and three times as expensive as Asia.  The reason?  We have twice the amount of chronic disease, and 75 percent of chronic conditions are generated by four factors: 1) tobacco, 2) lack of physical activity, 3) food portion size, and 4) stress.
• 81 percent of hospital admissions and 76 percent of physician visits – at an average cost of $6,031 per person per year – are due to people having one of the four conditions.
• In 2008, 20.6 percent of US adults age 18 and over – about 46 million people – were smokers.  In 2007, the rate was 19.8 percent.  The government goal was to reach 12 percent by 2010.  We’re going in the wrong direction!!  Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the US, killing 443,000 people.  By comparison, the rate of smoking hovered around 40 percent in the mid-1960s.
• Why has smoking increased by 1.2 percent?  Well, here might be an answer.  It seems that 99.7 percent of the Tobacco Funds received from the cigarette makers by the states are allocated to non-tobacco cessation projects (buildings, highways, and other state government projects).  Only three states spend more than 10 percent of the money they receive from this source – which was intended for smoking prevention.  The states are Rhode Island, Maine, and Delaware. 
• The highest rate of increase for smoking is among teenagers.  And, the activity most closely correlated to teen smoking?  Watching movies where characters smoke!!  Disney is the only film maker who now does not allow any smoking in its movies.

Demise of the Landline – Americans are giving up their landlines at the rate of 700,000 per month.  If this continues, the last cord will be cut in 2025.

Defensive Medicine– Defensive practices represent about a quarter of all reasons for use of certain services.  Defensive reasons were cited for 27 percent of MRIs, 24 percent of ultrasound, 22 percent of x-rays, 28 percent of CT scans, 18-20 percent of lab tests, and 30 percent of specialty referrals and consultations.

Kevin Fickenscher, MD

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