A Business Case for Early Detection of Cardiovascular Disease: The Financial Impact of Current Trends in Population Screening Programs–New study released by HealthGroup West
The pervasiveness of cardiovascular disease makes it a natural target for developing screening programs. If screening programs can reduce the acute treatment costs and associated morbidity of CVD by just 10% over five years, a positive impact of over $350 billion would be realized by the overall economy. This is almost as much money as is being considered under some of the current Medicare prescription drug benefit proposals.
(PRWEB)November 11 2003--The economic impact of cardiovascular disease in the
U.S. is enormous. Considered as a whole, the annual cost of treating Americans
with CVD currently exceeds US$200 billion. This represents actual expenditures,
and is the most spent on any single disease category. But the indirect cost of
CVD is just as staggering—each year the morbidity and early mortality attributed
to CVD represents a drain of over US$140 billion from the U.S. economy in the
form of lost productivity. This is a huge burden borne by U.S. employers and
reduces American competitiveness around the world.
With these amounts of
resources at stake, any program to detect heart disease in its earlier (and less
costly) stages stands to make an important contribution to both the health and
the economy of the country. Fortunately, there is a growing body of medical
evidence about the benefits of actively screening populations for CVD. In
response to the need for sound advice and analysis on the issue of how hospitals
and physicians can use screening programs to improve the quality and
profitability of cardiovascular care while simultaneously controlling costs and
reducing waste, HealthGroup West has published a new white paper. Free copies of
“A Business Case for Early Detection of Cardiovascular Disease: The Financial
Impact of Current Trends in Population Screening Programs” are available upon
request from HealthGroup West. The study provides cardiovascular leaders with a
framework to evaluate the appropriateness of pursuing a variety of different
screening strategies in their own cardiovascular programs.
According to
Jeffrey Frazier, a principal at HealthGroup West, “The pervasiveness of
cardiovascular disease makes it a natural target for developing screening
programs.” “If screening programs can reduce the acute treatment costs and
associated morbidity of CVD by just 10% over five years, a positive impact of
over $350 billion would be realized by the overall economy. This is almost as
much money as is being considered under some of the current Medicare
prescription drug benefit proposals,” adds Frazier.
“Unavoidable
demographic trends and technological advances dictate that there will be
tremendous growth and competition in cardiovascular care for the foreseeable
future,” says Kevin Curtis, also a principal at HealthGroup West, LLC. “But now
more than ever providers of cardiovascular care need to be able to demonstrate
that their actions dramatically improve the health of their patients and
actually save the country money in terms of increased worker productivity. There
are many opportunities for hospitals and physicians to use screening programs to
make this happen,” added Curtis.
HealthGroup West is expert in the growth
and development of cardiology, cardiac surgery, electrophysiology, and vascular
medicine services. With clients ranging from physician practices and community
hospitals to major health systems, HealthGroup West is one of the most
knowledgeable groups of experts in the country on the development of all types
of specialized cardiovascular services. The cardiovascular specialists of
HealthGroup West hold advanced degrees in Business Administration; Economics and
Finance; Health Policy and Evaluative Clinical Sciences; Information Science,
Law, and others.
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Source : http://www.prweb.com/releases/2003/11/prweb88791.htm