Proven Savings From Prevention, Early Intervention

Yes, it is possible to substantially rein in costs to "bend the cost curve." There are many proven techniques to do this. However, preventing things from happening continues to be undervalued even though we know it significantly reduces future costs. By making wise investments now and choosing program and policy options that move the system toward prevention, we can reduce our spending in the future and give greater value to the health system. Two methods that accomplish this include:

• Change the system to provide care as far upstream as possible by enhancing provider reimbursement for primary care, prevention and early intervention, as well as utilizing more allied health providers and physician extenders to provide care. This will reduce costs by identifying problems early and then managing them to reduce or eliminate the need for more costly care in the future.

• Invest in and utilize more community-based interventions that have been shown to save money. A study by the Trust for America's Health showed that for every "$10 per person per year invested in proven community-based disease prevention programs saved more than $2.8 billion annually in health care costs in one to 2 years, more than $16 billion annually within 5 years, and nearly $18 billion annually in 10 to 20 years (in 2004 dollars)."

That's real savings. Unfortunately the Congressional Budget Office, the scorekeeper for Congress, has not designed a methodology to fully capture and credit this benefit. This needs to be corrected if the true costs savings are to be captured.

By Georges Benjamin  |  July 21, 2009; 4:49 PM ET  | Category:  Health Care Reform , Health costs , Prevention , Primary Care
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