PH 122 midterm

How much of the economy does healthcare account for?

17.9%

GDP

Sum of all products and services in the economy

What was the GDP of 2010 and what was the total health care spending?

� 1n 2010 the GDP was $14,527 billion
� Or $14.5 trillion
� 1 trillion=1,000,000,000,000
**Health care spending= $2.59 trillion

Characteristics Of The Health Care System

� Uncertainty
� Asymmetric information
� Externalities
--Market failure
--A lot of government involvement

Uncertainties

1) Onset of disease:
a. Insurance
b. Capacity planning
2) Disease progression:
a. Medical decision making
b. Quality of care assessment
c. Diagnostic tests
d. Efficacy of treatments

Asymmetric Information

� Definition: when one side of the encounter has more information than the other side
� Between patients and physicians
� Between patients and insurers

Externalities

� Definition: an action such that the costs and benefit do not accrue to the same party.
� Positive externality: an acPon that confers a benefit on someone other the person taking the action.
� Negative externality: an action that imposes a cost on someon

Optimal Action:
Total Costs = Total Benefits

� Decision to act based on internal costs and benefits:
Internal costs = internal benefits
� If total cost > internal costs => too much action
� If total benefit > internal benefit => too little action

Government Involvement In HealthCare-- uncertainty and asymmetric information

� To address uncertainty:
- Insurance
- Price controls
- Supply controls
� To address asymmetric information:
- Report cards
- Drugs regulation
- Licensing of professionals

Government Involvement In HealthCare -- externalities

- Public health
- R&D

Who Is Involved In The HealthCare System

� Patients/consumers
� Providers: hospitals, physicians, nursing homes, home health agencies, clinics, nurses, nurse's aides, dentists, hygienist, therapists, clinicians, laboratories, alternaPve medicine providers
� Insurance
� Government - insurer, regu

Health Care's 1%: The Extreme Concentration of U.S. Health Spending

One percent of the U.S. population accounts for nearly 23 percent of overall health care spending, and 5 percent are responsible for a full 50 percent of spending. In stark contrast, the lowest-spending half of the population generates less than 3 percent

Inflation

the rise in the level of prices

Current price/$

the price you are charged
at the store

Real price/$=Constant price/$

price that has been adjusted for inflation

CPI

Consumer Price Index:
� The CPI is an index measuring the average price of a standard basket of goods consumed by the average family. It includes food, transportation, medical services, education, entertainment, etc...
� The CPI was set (arbitrarily) to e

look at slide 34-36

...

What Contributes To The Increase In NHE

1) Inflation
2) Population growth and aging
3) Once we account for #1 and #2 we are left with technology.

Decision Makers Make Decisions Such That:

1) They maximize an objective 2) Subject to a constraint

For- Profit Firms Objectives and Constraints

� Objective: Profit
� Constraints: - Technology
- Costs of inputs - Demand
- Laws and regulations

Non-Profit Firms Objectives and Constraints

� Maximize: mission of the organiza:on
� Constraints: same as for-profits

For Individuals objectives and constraints

� Maximize u:lity = well being
� Constraints: - Income
- Prices - Time - Information

all this Implies That

� Decision are made at the margin � Costs=benefits -high utility=high health. -low utility=low health

Diminishing Returns

� Definition: at the margin-every addi:onal unit of investment brings a lower level of return than the previous unit.

Health Production Good goods and bad goods

� Good "goods" - Health food
- A good mattress - Gym membership
� Bad "goods" - Drugs
- Alcohol - Red meat
� Medical care

why is health important with utility

� Health is important because it increases utility
� There is more than one way to produce health
� The effectiveness of medical care in producing health depends on the disease and the state of the art of medicine.

Demand For Medical Care Is Derived Demand. What influences it?

� What influences it?
- Desire for health
- Beliefs about effectiveness - Advice from providers
- Education
- Income

when should we increase treatment by 1 unit?

marginal productivity > marginal costs

Intensive margin

increasing the intensity with which a treatment is given to the same population

Extensive margin

increasing the population that will receive the same treatment

F

probability of disease

p

true positive rate=sensitivity

q

false positive rate

Y

yield rate of the test= Fxp+(1-F)xq

what would produce the best test?

highest p and lowest q

how do we measure productivity of medical care?

Cross sectional studies

Chartpack

National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2011
This Chartpack presents data for all indicators scored
in the National Scorecard on U.S. Health System Performance, 2011. Charts display average performance for the United States as a whole and th

Randomized Control Trials

� An experiment in which a population is randomly split into 2 groups:
- Intervention
- Control
� Intervention group receives the
experimental treatment
� Control group receives usual care
-->Because of randomization, the two groups are the same except fo

RAND Health Insurance Study (HIS)

� 2 questions:
- Does type of health insurance affect use
of medical care?
- What is the productivity of medical care?
� RCT:
- 6000 people
- 4 ciCes, 2 rural areas
- Enrolled for 3 or 5 years
- Enrolled in different insurance types
� To measure from the

Productivity Of Medical Care

� Definition: (Change in health / Change in medical care)

Cost Benefit Of Low Dose Cholesterol Drug

� Males 55-64 survived following heart attack with high cholesterol
$3,237/additional life year
� Females, 35-44 non-smokers $3,035,160/additional life year

Cost Benefit Of Pap Smear For Cervical Cancer Starting At Age 20

� Every 3 years compared to no screening $36,017/additional life year
� Every 2 years compared to every 3 years $711,671/additional life year

Insurance

Changes the price of MC at THE TIME OF DECISION TO USE MC
� 3 different types
� Often used in combination

look at lecture 4 slides 8-10

...

Deductibles

� Until the deductible is satisfied the patient does not have any insurance
� Once the deductible is reached, the patient can have any of the previous three types.

Caps

� Annual caps on patient out of pocket expenses - catastrophic insurance
� Life time maximum on benefits - insurer will not pay above a very high amount (e.g. $1 million). No longer allowed under ACA.

Patients cannot determine quality on their own

� They look for signals:
- Non-profit
- Medical school
- Hotel services (e.g. is the hospital clean)
- Certification by Government or other professional organizations
� Quality report cards
� Pay for performance - P4P
� Quality Improvement Organizations -

P4P/VBP

� Pay for Performance=Value Based Purchasing
� Payer sets quality targets:
- Targets can be absolute
- Targets may be any improvement
� Providers who meet targets are rewarded with increased payment
� Providers who do not meet the targets may be penalized

Authorized as part of Health Reform

� For hospitals (1.5%)
� Home health agencies
� Nursing homes
- On a demonstration basis at this time
- Also adopted by states and private payers
- Quality measures are oHen the same as those in the report card

MC Use Should Increase When:

� Prices fall
� People are sicker (and a proxy for that might
be older and poorer)
� Income increases
� With generosity of insurance
� As time to obtain services decrease
� As value of Ame decrease
� With higher quality
� With people's beliefs about the e

How Do We Measure It?

� Responsiveness of MC use to price - Price elasAcity of demand
----% change in MC use/% change in price
----Or: % change in MC use per I% increase in price
� Responsiveness of MC use to income - Income elasticity of demand
----% change in MC use/% change

RAND HIS - Insurance Plans

� Full coverage = 0 copayments and deductible. Free care.
� 25% copayment
� 50% copayment
� 50% copayment only for dental and mental
� A deductible of $150 for ambulatory care only - everything else covered.
� Full cost (except for 5% to give incentives t

2014 Study of Mid-Westerners

� Enrollees in a high deductibles insurance plan
� For every $100 spent on outpatient care: - 1.9% higher probability of inpatient
admission
- 4.6% higher inpatient expenditures

Observational Study: NYS Cardiac Report Cards

� Quality magered before and aher report cards were published:
- Before: based on signals: price and physician experience
- After: reported risk adjusted mortality rate
- After: signals became half as important
- After: disparities changed from race to lo