Achieve Health Reform Now by Controlling Costs in Meaningful Ways

I’ve been following all the news in the press and on television about health care reform and one of the major issues has been cost containment. One of the elements overlooked in the trillions of dollars being tossed around is the importance of controlling costs in our present system as a means of immediate reform.

This comes to mind because a friend of mine, who is very good at tracking his own health, talked about a book that was a very valuable resource for him. So I borrowed a copy of Taking Charge of Your Own Health by Lisa Hall. The author challenges readers to take responsibility for their own health care and to be accountable for tests doctors order, prescriptions given, and treatments suggested.

Lisa Hall was misdiagnosed 37 times before a doctor discovered she had an autonomic nervous system dysfunction, likely caused when she was struck by lightning at age 15. Through that entire experience she learned the importance of seeking second opinions, understanding her health insurance coverage, and taking steps to avoid duplicate tests, thus reducing costs.

Among the cost-saving suggestions the author makes are to:

* Manage medications to prevent costly and unnecessary medical interventions

* Use outpatient clinics instead of ERs when appropriate

* Avoid costly duplication of tests by maintaining and bringing to the doctor’s office your own diagnostic history.

Hall makes sense to me when she argues that it is the patient’s responsibility to keep records of their health care and be an active partner in reducing the costs of your own care. She suggests forms to use for medical record keeping in the book and offers the forms for download at her website by doing a search on “theproactivepatient.”

If this approach were followed by thousands of patients the cost savings would be astronomical. In this way we could get an effective head-start on health care reform before the government’s complicated package takes effect two and three years from now.

If you are interested in being a participant in health reform now by containing costs in a meaningful way, pick up a copy of Taking Charge of Your Own Health by Lisa Hall. It’s good reading and makes a lot of sense to me, as it will to you also.

By Emory Daniels

Achieve Health Reform Now by Controlling Costs in Meaningful Ways