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Baby Boomers Effect on Health Care:
The Baby Boomer generation is fast approaching retirement in the coming years and the effect on healthcare costs will be substantial, especially considering that by 2030 the Boomers will cause the number of people over the age of 65 to triple. It is expected that more than six out of every 10 Boomers will be managing more than one chronic condition and one out of every 4 (or roughly 14 million) Boomers will be living with Diabetes.
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New Website on HIPAA Compliance and Enforcement:
To coincide with the fourth anniversary of the enforcement of the HIPAA Privacy Rule, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has launched an enhanced Web site that will make it easier for consumers, health care providers and others to get information about how the Department enforces health information privacy rights and standards. The new site provides statistics on the number of complaints and the resulting enforcement actions. Enforcement of the privacy provisions is a complaint driven process. Corrective action against employer-sponsored plans has focused primarily on education and assistance in achieving compliance.
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Drug Costs on the Rise for Diabetes Patients:
Medco’s 2007 Drug Trend Report projects that, by 2009, spending on medicines to treat diabetes could soar by over 60% from 2006 levels. The potential for greater spending reflects the expanding prevalence of diabetes and the increased use of multiple-drug therapies for blood-glucose control. This increase is particularly concerning considering diabetes treatments trail only cholesterol medications in total prescription drug spending growth in 2006. The obesity epidemic in the U.S. will drive not only prescription cost, but also absentee cost, productivity loss, and health costs other than medications. Evidence clearly shows that proper diet and exercise can prevent or delay the development of diabetes highlighting the importance of employer sponsored health improvement initiatives.
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Imaging Technology Fastest Growing Medical Cost:
Imaging expense has nudged out drugs as the fastest growing component of rising medical costs, trending at 20 percent annually. Diagnostic imaging costs total well over $100 billion per year in the U.S., nearly 5% of all health expenditures. While advances in imaging technology reduce unnecessary surgeries and improve diagnostic ability, industry experts determined that as many as 30 percent of imaging studies were either unnecessary or inappropriate. Defensive medicine and patient demand are responsible for the majority of over-utilization.
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