<p>I mentioned in a previous post that many parts of Obamacare are behind the scenes, where we as consumers see nothing, but that contribute a great deal to reducing the underlying cost of healthcare. </p>
<p>I just attended a presentation recently where a healthcare provider gave the interim results of a project aimed at harnessing multiple medical disciplines together, on a common medical record, to improve the care for the patient and to reduce the cost at the same time. It’s being done in tandem with one of the major universities who are studying the process and the results. The project is possible because ACA facilitates certain reorganization of care which I won’t go into detail on. </p>
<p>The results were highly encouraging. Their biggest success was in a sharply lowered rate of readmissions, meaning they had a higher rate of correct diagnosis and treatment. They were able to reduce the number of required full time equivalent physician positions by just over 2%. That means they will be able to treat a lot more patients with the same number of physicians, and do it better. </p>
<p>I know our day to day concern is if we have insurance and how much it costs. However, other parts of of the ACA law may ultimately contribute more to accomplishing lower premiums over time than just the competition of spreadsheeting insurance plans.</p>