An introduction to www.CostsOfCare.org, a 501c3 nonprofit venture dedicated to helping doctors understand how the decisions they make impact what patients pay for care.
2. The Opportunity Every 30 seconds medical bills bankrupt an American family Doctors decide what goes on the bill Many commonly ordered tests and treatments do not improve health outcomes
3. The Opportunity “ We seem to have as much as $700 billion a year in health care tests and services that are unnecessary, that don't improve health outcomes, and that just add to costs ... The way to get at that has been started in the stimulus bill in which we invest [$20 billion] in health information technology , we start to better measure what works and what doesn't, and we start to pay for better care rather than more care.” Peter Orszag, Director of the White House Office of Management & Budget. February 19th, 2009
13. Value Chain Costs of Care services Physicians (target) Patients (1 ° beneficiary) Emergency Rooms (2 ° beneficiary) Healthcare System (3 ° beneficiary)
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16. Our Theory of Change All doctors should understand how the decisions they make impact what patients pay. We believe that drawing an explicit link between these decisions and the potential to bankrupt the patient in front of them will induce doctors to consider costs. We believe doctors who consider costs will continue ordering tests and treatments patients need to get better, but will be less likely to order superfluous tests that inflate medical bills unnecessarily.