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Rising Costs of Health Care...A Topic for All Businesses <br /> Twin Cities North Chamber of Commerce <br /> Page 2 <br /> M3. Perspective from a physician organization point of view: <br /> • Independent physician organizations are not where the increase costs in health care <br /> spending have been going. For organizations like Columbia Park Medical Group to stay <br /> financially viable, we have had to increase productivity, reduce costs and offer new <br /> services. Costs, which organizations like ours have little control over, have been <br /> increasing faster than inflation. These include the cost of medical supplies and drugs, <br /> technical and professional staff and malpractice insurance. Government regulations, i.e. <br /> HIPAA, also increase costs. <br /> • When we looked at our charges, revenues (the amount of money collected) and our <br /> expenses over the last 10 years, we found that our charges on a routine office visit went <br /> up 61% but what we received in reimbursement increased only 34%. What we pay for a <br /> medical assistant increased 37%, a registered nurse 62% and an x-ray technologist 41%. <br /> Primary care physician (family practice) compensation increased by only 28%. <br /> • Professional liability insurance costs per physician at our organization increased 18% in <br /> the last year and these costs are expected to continue to increase. <br /> • Too much of health care spending is going to areas that provide no value to consumers. <br /> For example, there are too many added costs with different health plans. Each health <br /> plan has specific requirements for provider credentialling, how claims are submitted for <br /> billing, what they require in terms of covered pharmaceuticals, what they require for <br /> disease management and a number of other requirements. The most significant is how <br /> each payer reimburses for services provided to their members (which are our patients). A <br /> "simplified payment system" is needed on a national level. A single government payer is <br /> not the answer. Consumers need a choice and competition with health plans is good for <br /> consumers. Waste and costs that provide no value to consumers need to be eliminated. <br /> • Consumers need more say in their health care. Consumers are becoming more educated <br /> about health care and this should help with finding solution to health care cost <br /> management. <br /> • <br />