A new Institute of Medicine report estimates that 30% of health spending does not improve health—because it is spent on unnecessary services, wasted through excessive administrative costs or inefficiencies, or otherwise wasted or misspent (e.g., through fraud).
The report, Best Care at Lower Cost, is the product of an IOM committee which studied various features of the health care system, including the complexity of modern health care, its high costs, and outcomes. Overall, the report argues that the nation’s health care system has grown too complex and too expensive, and such problems threaten the nation’s economy and global competitiveness.
The report offers recommendations in various areas, such as the collection and use of data for care, collaboration, and care continuity, and compensation systems.
