By using this site, you agree to the Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Accept
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
  • Health
    • Mental Health
    Health
    Healthcare organizations are operating on slimmer profit margins than ever. One report in August showed that they are even lower than the beginning of the…
    Show More
    Top News
    physical health
    5 Ways Playing Games Can Improve Neural and Physical Health
    September 9, 2022
    Reasons For Hair Loss and Its Treatment
    Reasons For Hair Loss and Its Treatment
    February 16, 2022
    healthcare organization
    5 Actionable Strategies For Healthcare Organizations
    August 15, 2022
    Latest News
    Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
    May 16, 2025
    Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
    May 16, 2025
    Choosing the Right Supplement Manufacturer for Your Brand
    May 1, 2025
    Engineering Temporary Hospitals for Extreme Weather
    April 24, 2025
  • Policy and Law
    • Global Healthcare
    • Medical Ethics
    Policy and Law
    Get the latest updates about Insurance policies and Laws in the Healthcare industry for different geographical locations.
    Show More
    Top News
    email marketing in healthcare
    Harnessing the Power of Email Marketing in Healthcare
    October 26, 2023
    healthcare claims
    The Role of Communication in Resolving Complex Workers’ Compensation Claims in Healthcare Settings
    September 22, 2024
    Wounds and Wisdom: What Motorcycle Accidents Teach Us About Health and Healing
    Wounds and Wisdom: What Motorcycle Accidents Teach Us About Health and Healing
    February 12, 2025
    Latest News
    Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
    May 18, 2025
    The Critical Role of Healthcare in Personal Injury Recovery: A Comprehensive Guide for Victims
    May 14, 2025
    The Backbone of Successful Trials: Clinical Data Management
    April 28, 2025
    Advancing Your Healthcare Career through Education and Specialization
    April 16, 2025
  • Medical Innovations
  • News
  • Wellness
  • Tech
Search
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Reading: Interest Groups: Hurtling Us Down the Road to Ruin
Share
Notification Show More
Font ResizerAa
Health Works CollectiveHealth Works Collective
Font ResizerAa
Search
Follow US
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
© 2023 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
Health Works Collective > Business > Finance > Interest Groups: Hurtling Us Down the Road to Ruin
BusinessDiagnosticsFinanceGlobal HealthcareHealth ReformPolicy & LawPublic HealthSpecialties

Interest Groups: Hurtling Us Down the Road to Ruin

Brian Klepper
Last updated: June 25, 2013 6:55 am
Brian Klepper
Share
6 Min Read
SHARE

By Brian Klepper and David C. Kibbe

By Brian Klepper and David C. Kibbe

colonoscopiesdckibbeA recent New York Times article that focused on colonoscopies highlighted the questionable science, predatory unit pricing, and overutilization that characterize this procedure and much of US healthcare. Patients get routine screenings that, in other industrialized countries, cost one half to one thirtieth of what they do here, then are gobsmacked by bills equivalent to the cost of a good used car. Reporters and healthcare writers have covered this topic in all its intricacies thousands of times.

But Elizabeth Rosenthal, the Times reporter, zeroed in on the root of the crisis, which is how healthcare interests have shaped market and policy forces to their own ends. ”The high price paid for colonoscopies mostly results not from top-notch patient care, according to interviews with health care experts and economists, but from business plans seeking to maximize revenue; haggling between hospitals and insurers that have no relation to the actual costs of performing the procedure; and lobbying, marketing and turf battles among specialists that increase patient fees.”

One result is that healthcare’s cost drivers are a multiheaded monster, frustrating simplistic solutions. Many physicians own a financial stake in the care they deliver, rather than being paid to manage the care process well. Pricing is typically unrelated to cost or quality, varies wildly among providers, and often comprises dozens of components that are impossible to understand beforehand. Insurance companies may make a percentage of total cost and so are incentivized to allow healthcare to cost more. Every level of the system is rigged.

The elephant in the room is that US healthcare costs are crushing the larger economy, not because the clinical science demands it, but because corporations and other interest groups have captured both the healthcare marketplace and the regulatory environment that oversees it. We are gridlocked, with no apparent hope of improvement. Last year, Florida Governor and former Hospital Corporation of America CEO Rick Scott observed, “How many businesses do you know that want to cut their revenues in half? That’s why the healthcare industry won’t fix the healthcare industry.”

Following the money, independent of appropriateness, is hardly unique to healthcare. Several recent exposes in the mainstream press have detailed the cleverness of other industries’ market control efforts. Financial services in particular appear to make chumps of us all. Haley Sweetland Edwards described how that lobby gutted the rules governing how the Dodd-Frank reforms would work. Matt Taibbi described the financial sector’s gaming, not only of LIBOR but also of nearly every financial instrument in the global markets.

But lobbying is an opportunity for anyone with the resources, and other industries are coming on strong. Read Julian Assange’s chilling description of the deepening collaboration between technology firms and governments to leverage their control over all our personal lives. These interests are deeply embedded in our regulatory process, and their influence and control are all but intractable. Consider Occupy Wall Street’s inability to mobilize an effective organization that could exert a meaningful impact our political and economic systems, despite striking a common chord among the ranks of America’s youth, disenfranchised and disheartened. It is impossible not to despair after reading these pieces. We’re being propelled by powerful vested interests. Our dearest freedoms are being eroded, our pocketbooks emptied, and the nation’s wealth is relentlessly concentrating into fewer hands.

Large corporations and Congress, through lobbying, are the principal proponents of these threats to our individual, national, and global futures. Their leaders understand that the long-term outcomes will almost certainly not be favorable, but are distracted by short-term benefits. The rest of us are likely to be pawns, consigned to seek the attention of the few influencers who ultimately value the welfare of the many more than that of the few.

One can imagine events that could disrupt these downward spirals. Bursting economic bubbles, a national outcry against corporate control, or market-based offerings that exploit commonplace market vacuums could force the pendulum to swing back toward balance and more of an open, egalitarian society. Unlikely, but possible. We prefer to hope that the marketplace of ideas remains the most powerful driver of enlightened self-interest, and that workable solutions abound.

In healthcare, titanic economic pressures are already creating market opportunities, with many young firms innovating with new approaches that deliver measurably better quality at lower cost. But we also need a new Flexner Report, the 1910 study of medical education that revitalized US medicine,  establishing a drive toward rigor, science, and professional standards. Now, US healthcare is broken in different ways and needs a clear-eyed, comprehensive reassessment of what we know about care and cost, and how it must be transformed to ameliorate its current threat to our national economic security. We need an effort that can be taken seriously by the medical and business communities, and that can provide the traction to drive meaningful change.

This would be in everyone’s interests, except those of healthcare’s profiteers. Perhaps equally important it could be a model to rethink how the United States relates to powerful interest groups that are hurtling us all pell-mell down the road to ruin.

Posted 6/21/13 on Medscape Internal Medicine

TAGGED:colonoscopy
Share This Article
Facebook Copy Link Print
Share

Stay Connected

1.5kFollowersLike
4.5kFollowersFollow
2.8kFollowersPin
136kSubscribersSubscribe

Latest News

Clinical Expertise
Building Smarter Care Teams: Aligning Roles, Structure, and Clinical Expertise
Health care
May 18, 2025
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Grounded Healing: A Natural Ally for Sustainable Healthcare Systems
Health
May 15, 2025
Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
Learn how to Renew your Medical Card in West Virginia
Health
May 15, 2025
Dr. Klaus Rentrop Shares Acute Myocardial Infarction heart treatment
Dr. Klaus Rentrop Shares Acute Myocardial Infarction
Cardiology
May 13, 2025

You Might also Like

Individuals’ Rights to Their Health Information: The Federales Awaken

February 3, 2016
marketing data
BusinessFinanceTechnology

3 Timely Factoids to Make You a Smarter Marketer

January 28, 2015

Embracing Change for Healthcare Transformation

March 17, 2013

Are Electronic Medical Records Really Causing a Crisis?

October 30, 2014
Subscribe
Subscribe to our newsletter to get our newest articles instantly!
Follow US
© 2008-2025 HealthWorks Collective. All Rights Reserved.
  • About
  • Contact
  • Privacy
Welcome Back!

Sign in to your account

Username or Email Address
Password

Lost your password?