April 5, 2012

Reducing Waste in the U.S. Health Care System: Addressing Political and Technical Barriers

Health care experts widely believe that 30 percent or more of U.S. health care spending is for clinical services that provide little or no benefit to patients. However, specifically identifying and eliminating wasteful spending has been extremely challenging. This forum will examine strategies for breaking down barriers that have limited our nation’s ability to successfully reduce health care waste and inefficiency. It will examine specific initiatives designed to control spending with support from both clinicians and patients. This includes programs developed by medical groups, integrated delivery systems, and health plans.

It will also assess strategies for spreading successful approaches to new health systems and geographic markets. In particular, it will reexamine the political and market dynamics that occurred during the 1990s when parties perceived to be adversely affected were able to undermine sustained cost containment efforts. In so doing, the meeting will explore new models for discourse across stakeholders that balance the needs of those that generate health care costs and those that pay for them with the objective of moderating the forces that have derailed past efforts to manage spending growth.

Participants