First, Do No (Financial) Harm: A Call to Action for Physicians
Boston, MA (PRWEB) July 10, 2013 -- “‘First, do no harm’ is a well-established mantra of the medical profession, but it may need to be reconceptualized in an era of unsustainable healthcare spending,” say Drs. Christopher Moriates, Neel Shah, and Vineet Arora, in their new article, “First, Do No (Financial) Harm,” published in JAMA on July 8, 2013. Medical bills are a leading cause of financial harm, even amongst insured Americans, and physicians are directly responsible for what goes on the bill. The Affordable Care Act will likely lead to even more Americans on high-deductible insurance plans, which means that simple decisions that physicians make such as providing additional testing on a patient could lead to thousands of dollars in out-of-pocket costs.
“Healthcare providers cannot say that they provide true ‘patient-centered care’ if they continue to ignore one of the top concerns of their patients: the rising out-of-pocket costs and potential financial ramifications of their medical care,” said author Dr. Christopher Moriates, an Assistant Professor at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF), and the Associate Director of Education Initiatives for Costs of Care. “We have outlined steps that healthcare providers can take in order to help ensure both the physical and financial well-being of their patients.”
The article calls on healthcare providers to help curb out-of-pocket costs by performing four key steps:
1. Screen patients for financial harm
2. Adopt a “Universal Precautions” approach
3. Understand financial ramifications and value of recommendations
4. Optimize care plans for individual patients
With funding from the ABIM Foundation, Moriates, Shah and Arora are continuing their work through identifying the most promising ways to effectively teach medical students, residents, and fellows about stewardship of healthcare resources.
Christopher Moriates, Costs of Care, http://www.CostsOfCare.org, 617-841-8581, [email protected]
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