Despite the prevailing mindset that clinicians should only worry about patients, physicians need to care about costs, according to a KevinMD blog entry by Chicago med school student Sarah Jorgenson.
Ms. Jorgenson wrote there are three main reasons to abolish the taboo surrounding cost-conscious medicine:
1. People care about costs. Paying for care is a big concern for many patients. According to a May 2012 Kaiser Family Foundation poll, a quarter of people surveyed had difficulty paying medical bills in the past year, and 60 percent have "cut corners" in ways such as skipping recommended tests to cut costs. Physicians need to be aware of this concern to be on the same page as their patients, according to Ms. Jorgenson.
2. Saving lives doesn't make medicine exempt from cost-consciousness. Healthcare providers shouldn't be exempt from thinking about sustainable models of spending because they save lives, Ms. Jorgenson wrote. Other life-saving entities in our society such as police departments aren't excused from spending concerns.
3. Good care and cost-conscious care go hand-in-hand. People need to assess whether healthcare services are worth the cost, just as they financially evaluate buying a car, taking a vacation or eating out, according to Ms. Jorgenson.
For more information, read the full blog entry here.
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