Source: New York Times
According to an analysis published in the New England Journal of Medicine, administrative costs make up at least one-third of total health care costs paid for by Americans.
While this includes a number of smaller administrative tasks, such as processing payments, sending bills or accepting and rejecting claims, the costs are nevertheless heavy and make up the largest administrative health care costs in the world.
The total cost of administrative spending on health care systems in the U.S. was over 25 percent of total spending for health care in the country. For the most part, hospitals are the greatest source of high administrative costs. Furthermore, a study published in Health Affairs found that administrative tasks take up about 3 hours of a given doctor’s time on any given week, and additionally, 19 hours of work from medical support workers, as reported by New York Times.
Studies show that administrative costs seem to be on the rise, going from 14 percent of spending in 2009 to 17 percent of spending by 2012.
Researchers have identified that one of the biggest reasons for this rise is the complexity of the American health care system, which pulls in multiple processors and payers, making the entire process lengthy and ultimately, costly.
Ready Full Story: New York Times