More Americans are changing their behavior when it comes to taking care of their health, according to a new EBRI Health Confidence Survey underwritten by Des Moines, IA-based Principal Financial Group. The survey of 1,000 people indicates that Americans are showing some level of personal responsibility through heightened awareness and action: Two out of five Americans report they are often or always aware of the cost of a doctor's visit. "The economic crisis is serving as 'the tipping point' in terms of how Americans are changing behavior concerning their healthcare," said Jerry Ripperger, practice leader of consumer health at Principal.
The California-based foundation X-Prize, which helped launch the first private manned space flight in 2004, is teaming with the insurer WellPoint Inc. to try to fix the U.S. healthcare system. The companies have announced an open competition to devise solutions that improve healthcare cost and quality, with a $10 million prize for the winner. Essentially, the competition will look for ways to "dramatically improve" cost and quality, said Brad Fluegel, a WellPoint executive vice president.
Measuring and improving patient satisfaction has become a bigger priority at many hospitals, especially since Medicare started posting the responses of discharged patients online after hospitals survey their customers on whether they would recommend the facility. Among Nashville-area hospitals, surveys through year-end 2007 showed that 84% and 82%, respectively, of the patients discharged from Vanderbilt University Medical Center and Saint Thomas Hospital would definitely recommend those hospitals. The reputation of a hospital could affect its market share, its ability to recruit doctors, and how much money it gets in reimbursements from the government.
Healthcare spending has grown by about 2% annually over the past 50 years, and experts only see more growth into the future. If this continues, they predict that countries will eventually be spending more than a fifth of their funding on healthcare alone.
Companion Global Healthcare Inc., a South Carolina-based medical travel company, has announced that Min-Sheng General Hospital in Taiwan, Japan, is now part of its network of international hospitals, offering affordable surgery and other care to American patients. This is the 11th hospital to join Companion's network, following hospitals in India, Costa Rica, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, and Ireland.
The Tourism Department of the Philippines will soon begin tracking the number of medical tourists who visit the country, in looking at the government's effectiveness in promoting it as a healthcare destination. Low medical costs and competitive skills and technology are increasingly attracting foreign patients, including those from the U.S.