Future Doctors Need Better Training on Medical Costs

Good article (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/04/health/04cost.html?ref=science) in the NY Times today on the efforts of medical schools to teach their students about the cost of care. While efforts to do such training have improved there is still major room for improvement:

Nonetheless, the effort has not been universal. According to a recent A.A.M.C. survey, about 60 percent of 102 American and Canadian medical schools include some material on health care costs, although the time they devote to it varies widely.

Dr. Prescott said a separate survey of 155 large teaching hospitals that together sponsor more than two-thirds of accredited residency programs in the United States found that only 41 percent had made sure that all their residencies included material on health care costs.

The article goes onto describe how volunteering at health clinics is another way medical students and residents are exposed to cost issues.

So it is certainly not a surprise then that medical costs have been so hard to contain when both the people who prescribe them and the the people who receive them know show little about the cost of the care.

This is why I believe the movement towards bundled provider payments have such promise. It will force medical providers to really look at the cost and necessity of the care they prescribe. Consumers also have a role to play in the cost equation but I really believe medical professionals are in a much better position than the average consumer to make the correct call on the necessity of a particular procedure/test.