Great news for the health IT business: while it stopped short of actually endorsing any options, the Congressional Budget Office has said that the only healthcare reform plans that are capable of offering reasonable savings relative to their cost are the health IT plans.
The CBO looked at 115 healthcare proposals, including those from President-elect Obama and from congressional Democrats. It found that most of them would be expensive and generate only modest savings.
And if the cost of healthcare can't be curbed, the CBO report says that healthcare spending would rise to 25 percent of the gross domestic product by 2025. In 2007 healthcare spending made up 17 percent of the GDP.
To learn more about the report:
- read this iHealthBeat piece [1]
Related Articles:
Senate advises greater disclosure of healthcare costs [2]
Health IT bill stalled in Senate [3]
Not-for-profit financial successes raise questions [4]
Health IT unlikely to generate big cost savings, CBO says [5]
Links:
[1] http://www.ihealthbeat.org/Articles/2008/12/19/Budget-Office-Highlights-Health-IT-as-Promising-Health-Proposal.aspx
[2] http://www.fiercehealthcare.com/story/senate-advises-greater-disclosure-healthcare-costs/2008-10-14
[3] http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/health-it-bill-stalled-senate/2007-11-26
[4] http://www.fiercehealthfinance.com/story/not-for-profit-financial-successes-raise-questions/2008-04-09
[5] http://www.fiercehealthit.com/story/health-it-unlikely-to-generate-big-cost-savings-cbo-says/2008-05-27