Chronic Disease Managment Is Glowing With Radiation

So you think chronic disease management is cheap?  Think again.  Chronic disease management is the Holy Grail for cost containment.  Fifty Percent of all health care dollars are spent by 5% of the population with chronic disease.  If you can get a chronic disease management program in place to contain costs, you can fix the financing of American health care. Here is just one example of why chronic disease management is so expensive.

Chief Complaint:  Shortness of breath.

PMH:  1.  Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (Smokers Lung)

             2.  Lung Cancer from smoking.

SH:  Previous smoker.  When asked if still smoking.  Response..."Hell no"

20 months time.

One hospital.

One EMR comparison

 system

29 chest xrays. (There was a page 2)

9 CT scans  (the equivalent radiation exposure of over 2500 chest xrays)

2 MRI's

1 Cardiac stress test (why are we checking?)

1 gall bladder function scan

1 ultrasound abdomen

It's no wonder why our country lacks the resources to pay for chronic disease management.  This is not management.  This is a free for all.  What makes Chronic Disease Management Expensive?

1.  Free=More is expensive

2.  Fearing to miss the diagnosis is expensive.

3.  End stage illness is expensive

4.  Life style choices are expensive (or cheap)

5.  Fragmented care is expensive

6.  Doing everything all the time is expensive.

7.  Not knowing the answer is expensive

8.  Lack of effective primary care is expensive.

9.  Noncompliance is expensive

10.  Inability to comply is expensive.

11.  Laziness on physician's part is expensive.

12.  Lack of quick access to old records is expensive.

13.  Unmanaged patient expectations are expensive.

14.  Being dinged by quality measures for not following protocols is expensive.