Insurance plans have increased their premiums. Are you surprised? I’m not. Coverage rates are not going to go down. They will only go up. However, this trend can be reversed if the following are implemented:
- a. Patients stop asking their physicians for the newest pills that are not necessarily better,
- b. Physicians stop buying into and prescribing from drug company’s hype, patient insistence or direct-to-consumer marketing on new and sometimes mediocre drugs,
- c. Direct-to-consumer advertising is more truthful,
- d. Comparisons are made to existing therapies to show if the new is really better than the old,
- e. Patients begin to get treated to target in multiple chronic disease states,
- f. Insurance companies reward healthy patients by offering rebates on premiums,
- g. Trained pharmacists are allowed to manage medication therapy as members of the healthcare team,
- h. Physicans, patients and ancillary healthcare personnel all work together,
- i. Patients actually take and finish their medications as prescribed,
- j. Pharmacists actually “step up” to patient care and use what they are taught and not hide out behind a counter in the pharmacy counting pills.
I know I ruffled a few feathers, but we all cry about healthcare and the escalating costs. We really need to take a long hard look in the mirror and realize that the system is broken and it all starts and ends with the patient and each healthcare discipline. For patients, they are the ones that control, legalize, promote and can demand a reversal in escalating healthcare costs. The democratic process is still alive and well here. For the healthcare practitioner, we must become more analytical and demanding in doing what is right by our patients. We can not turn over directorship to the patient to control their healthcare. We must empower them take an ownership role and show them how to manage their medical condition. If the patient is not capable of this, we must educate their caregiver.
I can hear it now…. there’s barely enough time to see patients, let alone spend more time educating them on their medications and disease conditions. The investment in their education will pay itself back in lower healthcare costs. There are volumes of studies on this that prove this concept works. The patient’s education starts with a multi-diciplinary team with each of its member’s goals to be the patient’s overall health. Physicians need to understand and accept that there is just not enough time in the day to do it all by themselves.
Once we embrace this concept, we will begin to reverse the rising costs of healthcare. If you see yourself in a role where you are barely able to provide or receive satisfactory healthcare, seek out a helper or two and start building your own team. The rewards far exceed the costs.
Until next time, be well.
Dion