| Experts argue that HSAs are a step in the long process of containing healthcare costs and insuring more Americans. The Commonwealth Fund has just released a study charging that Consumer-directed healthcare (CDHC) is not likely to curb healthcare costs and indeed, may even worsen health outcomes. The new study postulates that CDHCs will reduce patients’ receipt of needed preventive care and particularly affect individuals with chronic conditions. The study argues for the need for effective and equitable alternative to increased cost-sharing for patients would be care management for high-cost patients according to Commonwealth Fund President Karen Davis in Will Consumer-Directed Health Care Improve Health System Performance? She notes that ten percent of individuals account for 69 percent of health care costs. Given this factor, she believes this shows that the key missing element in consumer-directed health care plans—which generally consist of a high-deductible health plan combined with a health reimbursement account (HRA)—is any strategy that would promote high-quality care. Under this scenario, Davis believes, to effectively slow health care cost increases, health care plans will need to reward providers of high-quality care and efficiency, and better manage care for patients with costly conditions. “Longer-term solutions aimed directly at the root causes of higher costs are needed to improve health system performance and to achieve better quality, safety, and efficiency of care provision,” says Davis. Another Health Champion Comments According to former Senator Dave Durenberger, Chairman of the National Institute of Health Policy, “HSAs are a good tax policy to encourage people to spend wisely – save today for unexpected costs tomorrow.” In his forward to JoAnn M. Laing’s new book, The Small Business Guide To HSAs, Durenberger said he believes that if the nation doesn’t “change the purchasing order for healthcare and demand value for your healthcare dollars, even the most clever (healthcare) policy will be undermined by the high costs of misuse, underused and overuse of healthcare goods and services.” Laing herself at a recent conference said that HSAs are a start and that follow-on programs are needed to support the gains they offer the nation in slowing the rising healthcare cost structure. Other Findings From Study Davis asserts that to reduce health care costs, instead of reducing consumer spending across the board, U.S. health care leaders and policymakers must promote a high-performance health care system. Steps to achieve this goal include: - Public reporting of cost and quality data
- Investment in IT
- Development of guidelines and standards
- Rewarding high-quality performance including better management of high-cost conditions
- Investment in health care quality research by the federal government
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