Tackling Wasteful Spending on Health, OECD

PARIS, 12 Jan. - (ANA) -  The OECD published a new report titled Tackling Wasteful Spending on Health which finds that a significant share of health spending in OECD countries is at best ineffective and at worst wasteful.

Following a brief pause after the economic crisis, health expenditure is rising again in most OECD countries. Yet, a considerable part of this health expenditure makes little or no contribution to improving people's health. In some cases, it even results in worse health outcomes. Countries could potentially spend significantly less on health care with no impact on health system performance, or on health outcomes. This report systematically reviews strategies put in place by countries to limit ineffective spending and waste. On the clinical front, preventable errors and low-value care are discussed. The operational waste discussion reviews strategies to obtain lower prices for medical goods and to better target the use of expensive inputs. Finally, the report reviews countries experiences in containing administrative costs and integrity violations in health.

According to the report:

·         One in ten patients in OECD countries is unnecessarily harmed at the point of care.

·         More than 10% of hospital expenditure is spent on correcting preventable medical mistakes or infections that people catch in hospitals.

·         One in three babies is delivered by caesarean section, whereas medical indications suggest that C-section rates should be 15% at most.

·         The market penetration of generic pharmaceuticals – drugs with effects equivalent to those of branded products but typically sold at lower prices – ranges between 10-80% across OECD countries.

·         A third of OECD citizens consider the health sector to be corrupt or even extremely corrupt.

Strategies to reduce waste can be summed up as: i) stop doing things that do not bring value: for example, unnecessary surgeries and clinical procedures; and ii) swap when equivalent but less pricy alternatives of equal value exist: for example, by encouraging the use of generic drugs, developing advanced roles for nurses, or ensuring that patients who do not require hospital care are treated in less resource-consuming settings.

The report is available online at www.oecd.org/health/tackling-wasteful-spending-on-health-9789264266414-en.htm or I can email you a copy on request.

The issue of tackling ineffective health spending and reducing waste will be discussed at a meeting for Ministers of Health and a High-Level Policy Forum on people-centred care, at the OECD in Paris on 16 & 17 January. Other issues will include making the most of new health technologies in a sustainable way; modernising the roles of health professionals; and realising the promise of Big Data in health and health care. - (ANA) -

AB/ANA/ 12 January 2017 - - -