UnitedHealth Group Offers 15 Recommendations To Reduce Federal Health Spending by $540B Over 10 Years
UnitedHealth Group's Center for Health Reform and Modernization on Wednesday suggested 15 steps that could be taken to save $540 billion in federal in health care costs over the next 10 years, the AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports (Werner, AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 5/27). Simon Stevens, head of the center, said that the report "puts some flesh on the bones" of the pledge made by health care industry groups earlier this month to cut health care costs, noting that the recommendations already are being used by UnitedHealth to reduce costs and can be applied to Medicare (Reuters, 5/27).The recommended steps include:
- Providing patients with incentives for going to high-quality, efficient physicians;
- Reducing unnecessary care;
- Granting physicians incentives for providing comprehensive and preventive care;
- Providing nurse practitioners at nursing homes to manage illness and reduce avoidable hospitalizations to save $166 billion;
- Using evidence-based care management with preventive care to reduce avoidable hospitalizations and save $102 billion;
- Analyzing claims before they are paid to prevent duplicate billing and other administrative errors to save $57 billion (CongressDaily, 5/27); and
- Reducing the use of advanced imaging technologies to save $13 billion (AP/Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 5/27).
