Breaking the Cycle of Waste in Health Care

Jim Roosevelt, CEO of Tufts Health Plan, had an op-ed in yesterday's Boston Globe entitled "Breaking the Cycle of Waste in Health Care" .  This references a report released by the New England Health Institute earlier this year.   This report is especially helpful because it clearly distinguishes between increasing cost-effective care (which increases costs, but it's worth it) and actual cost saving.   

It's become somewhat of a standard refrain that 30% of all health care dollars are wasted.  Obviously, eliminating that waste is much less painful than eliminating necessary care.   Of course, all waste represents someone's income  - which is why we haven't made progress on lowering medical inflation.  

By the way, the Mass Medical Society commissioned Amy Lischko of Tufts School of Public Health to develop a thought paper on the root causes of health care inflation.  The report is available at this link.