Home Health: A Solution to Skyrocketing Healthcare Costs

MedCity News | By Andrew Molosky
 
A great deal of healthcare can take place in the home, leaving valuable bandwidth available for specialized facilities when they are needed.
 
A great deal of healthcare can take place in the home, leaving valuable bandwidth available for specialized facilities when they are needed.
 
As the 2024 presidential election draws nearer, nearly 75% of Americans report healthcare costs as a primary financial worry according to a new study from KFF. Americans have every reason to feel this way: over the last five decades per capita healthcare spending has increased from $353 in 1970 ($2,072 adjusted for inflation) to $13,493 today. But care quality has not increased by the same rate – rather, patients are simply paying more today for the same “one-size-fits-all” treatments. 
 
Rising costs and poor quality, however, are not the result of this administration or that one. They are a function of deeper problems endemic to the American healthcare industry itself. 
 
Added attention to the cost of care gives healthcare stakeholders the opportunity to step back and evaluate American healthcare as a whole. It is incumbent on us to think through system level changes and reshape the future of care delivery in this country.
 
Munck Wilson Mandala Partner Greg Howison shared his perspective on some of the legal ramifications around AI, IP, connected devices and the data they generate, in response to emailed questions.
 
Fortunately, home-based healthcare paradigms like hospice, that have long been recognized as the least institutionalized and profit-driven segments of the healthcare industry, offer a model for a return to healthcare sanity. 
 
American healthcare is beset by skyrocketing costs that force many patients to choose between their health and their financial stability. The statistics are staggering: Healthcare is the primary reason that Americans file for bankruptcy. Over half of Americans––57%––report having had some medical debt over the last five years.
 
What’s more, the United States spends much more on healthcare per person than peer nations; some studies suggest we spend twice as much. As the most prosperous, innovative country on Earth, our healthcare system should be the best. Instead, it’s one of the worst amongst wealthy countries…

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