Health Costs And Financing: Challenges And Strategies For A New Administration

Abstract

It is likely that 2021 will be a dynamic year for US health care policy. There is pressing need and opportunity for health reform that helps achieve better access, affordability, and equity. In this commentary, which is part of the National Academy of Medicine's Vital Directions for Health and Health Care: Priorities for 2021 initiative, we draw on our collective backgrounds in health financing, delivery, and innovation to offer consensus-based policy recommendations focused on health costs and financing. We organize our recommendations around five policy priorities: expanding insurance coverage, accelerating the transition to value-based care, advancing home-based care, improving the affordability of drugs and other therapeutics, and developing a high-value workforce. Within each priority we provide recommendations for key elected officials and political appointees that could be used as starting points for evidence-based policy making that supports a more effective, efficient, and equitable health system in the US.

The NCSBN 2022 Environmental Scan: Resiliency, Achievement, and Public Protection

“…The recent study by Spetz et al (2020) indicated that calls to close the gap between treatment need and treatment delivery is well documented. The following list further outlines the agenda for closing that gap: The health workforce must be better prepared, and structural barriers to life-saving care must be removed at both the federal and state levels ( Spetz et al, 2021 , citing National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019; Shrank et al, 2021 ; Alegría et al, 2021 ). Supporting the unrestrictive scope-of-practice regulations for NPs and other APRNs ( Spetz et al, 2021 , citing Institute of Medicine, 2011 ; National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2021 ) will provide APRNs with greater autonomy; these providers may be better positioned to close the gap.…”

“…The health workforce must be better prepared, and structural barriers to life-saving care must be removed at both the federal and state levels ( Spetz et al, 2021 , citing National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2019; Shrank et al, 2021 ; Alegría et al, 2021 ).…”

The Move Toward Person-Centered Systems of Care

“…In 2019, the top reason identified by treatment-ready adults for unmet mental health service needs was that they could not afford the cost of care (SAMHSA, 2020a). Unaffordable health care has been linked to limited care access (Shrank et al, 2021), with additional links to inequities. In the United States, care is delivered with higher cost but poorer outcomes when compared with care offered in many other nations (Dzau et al, 2021;Feldscher, 2018;Nunn et al, 2020).…”

The Economic Burden of Influenza-Like Illness among Children, Chronic Disease Patients, and the Elderly in China: A National Cross-Sectional Survey

“…Access, affordability, and equity are three basic goals of a well-operated health system [ 14 ], so evidence of the economic burden of influenza can help raise awareness in the public and clinical communities of the burden and consequences of this important disease. Additionally, estimating the economic burden of influenza is crucial to support national-level decision-making, while sufficient data to precisely estimate the economic burden of influenza are scarce and incomplete in LMICs [ 15 ].…”