Possible Funding Tension Between Wellness Programs and End-of-Life Care

It is a well known that a large percentage of the total U.S. healthcare spend is devoted to end-of-life care (EOLC) for a small number of patients (see:How We Spend $3,400,000,000,000). To quote the subtitle of the article:..."[M]ore than half of America's healthcare spending goes to five percent of patients."I think that we are approaching the time for an earnest discussion about this disproportionate allocation of healthcare resources and whether some of these resources could and should be reallocated to wellness programs. In my mind, it is out of the question about whether to increase spending for both wellness and EOLC given that the total healthcare expenditure, currently about 18% of the GDP (see:How has U.S. spending on healthcare changed over time?), is more than double that in other developed countries.In this current note, I want to first raise some of the reasons why expenditures for EOLC have grown so large:Organized medicine is generally focused on the treatment of disease rather than the promotion of wellness. Expensive and prolonged end-of-life measures are a consequence of this focus on disease.In a parallel manner, the training of physicians and nurses is devoted almost entirely to the diagnosis and treatment of disease, suggesting that this disease treatment orientation among healing professionals will continue in upcoming years.In our system, physicians and hospitals are reimbursed almost entirely for the diagnosis and treatment of...
Source: Lab Soft News - Category: Laboratory Medicine Authors: Tags: Cost of Healthcare Health Wearable Healthcare Insurance Hospital Financial Medical Consumerism Public Health Source Type: blogs