I started this page Feb 20, 2018%%%I would appreciate your comments/suggestions
Henry Lahore, Founder of VitaminDWiki hlahore@gmail.com
The following appear to be unique to US healthcare
1) More medical testing in US
- US doctors fear liability costs if they fail to order all possible tests
2) More administrative time (paperwork) in US due to multiple payers
- 5 full-time employees in a hospital just to meet Medicare quality guidelines
- Many employees are needed to deal with billing to multiple payers
- Procedures allowed/disallowed and amounts vary between the payers
3) Medicare/insurance are not permitted to recommend lower-cost drugs
4) Profit comes from treating, not preventing
- US Hospital administrators now have MBAs, not medical degrees
- US Doctors fear losing their position if they do not bring in enough business to clinic, hospital
5) Many US doctors get huge kickbacks/perks for prescribing certain drugs
- chemotherapy (Big-Pharma), vaccines (Aetna), etc
6) US hospitals can be destructively competitive in large cities
- Increases number of expensive testing facilities, and increases # of tests to justify them
- Increases number of specialists at each hospital
7) Govt. gives exclusive rights to manufacture various drugs
- Lack of competition results in huge price increases (10X is common)
8) Change laws so as to allow Pharmacists to suggest lower cost options
What an individual can do to reduce costs
1) Reduce the need for medical care
- By supplementing with vitamin D (easiest and lowest cost solution)
After getting all customers of a clinic to 80 ng of Vitamin D, the clinic visits dropped by 3X - By having a healthier diet – but this is very expensive and takes a lot of time and willpower
- 20 cents to get a 50,000 IU Vitamin D capsule once a month
- Over $1,000 to get the same amount of Vitamin D from wild salmon (3 meals a day of salmon)
- By not smoking – note, if you cannot quite smoking. Vitamin D reduces the health consequences of smoking
2)Take Vitamin D before entering the hospital (both planned and emergency)
- Loading up on 400,000 IU Vitamin D greatly decreases both days in hospital and death
3) Increase additional nutrients which provide wide-spread health benefits
- The following all have become low during the past few decades (along with Vitamin D)
Magnesium, Omega-3, Vitamin K2
Large group of employers can do the following
- Buy some drugs at bulk discounts not available to individual hospitals
- Cancel some of the laws which restrict drug competition
- Pay for Continuing Medical Education classes in nutrition and prevention
- Pay medical professionals to learn about nutrition and prevention
- Pay for research into promising cost-effective alternatives – such as vitamin D
Currently it takes 17-50 years to actually use a procedure which already has proven benefit - Pay patients and doctors for using Vitamin D with pregnancies
Net savings is about $2,000 per pregnancy - Pay for increased wellness, nutrition education (in-person and web), conferences,
Note: Big-Pharma underwrites 100+ medical conferences each year - Change co-pay so that it proportional to salary
Currently co-pay causes many employes to forgo medical help
Groups of Employers which are trying to reduce costs of healthcare
- Employer alliance is trying to reduce the cost of health care – Aug 2017
- Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway and JPMorgan Team Up to Try to Disrupt Health Care Jan 30, 2018
See also VitaminDWiki
Cost Savings with Vitamin D category listing has 162 items such as the following
20 Most-visited pages in "Cost Savings with Vitamin D" category in VitaminDWiki
Items in both categories: "Cost savings with Vitamin D" and "Trauma & Surgery" are listed here:
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400,000 IU of Vitamin D before surgery should cost-effectively reduce infection after knee replacement – May 2020
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Rotator Cuff repair using Vitamin D lowers medical cost by 46 dollars – June 2023
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Vitamin D is needed before many surgeries – many studies and RCTs
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10 fewer days of ICU Mechanical Ventilation 300,000 IU injection of vitamin D – RCT March 2019
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Heart attack ICU costs cut in half by Vitamin D – Oct 2018
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Trauma with fracture – 2 weeks longer hospital stay if less than 10 ng vitamin D – Jan 2018
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ICU cost reduced by at least 27,000 dollars if get high dose vitamin D in first week - April 2017
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Vitamin D and Glutamine reduced Trauma Center deaths by half – Matthews March 2017
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Chance of dying in hospital cut in half by just 10 ng higher level of Vitamin D – April 2016
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Hospital ICU added high dose vitamin D - malpractice lawsuit costs dropped from 26 million dollars to ZERO - Oct 2016
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18 fewer hospital days if given 500,000 IU of vitamin D while ventilated in ICU – RCT June 2016
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ICU death rate reduced 3X when a vitamin D injection changed the PTH – Nov 2015
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Children stayed in ICU 3.5 days longer if low vitamin D – Dec 2015
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Heart Attack ICU costs reduced $37,000 by $20 of Vitamin D – Nov 2015
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Surgical outcomes are better for higher levels of Vitamin D – systematic review May 2015
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Shorter time in ICU if have higher level of vitamin D – April 2012
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Spinal fusion patients often low on vitamin D - Nov 2011
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Staph infection reduced 50 percent when have more than 30 ng of vitamin D – Aug 2011
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Sepsis is both prevented and treated by Vitamin D - many studies
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MRSA inpatient cost 2X higher if less than 20 ng vitamin D – June 2011
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540000 IU before ICU raised vitamin D by 25 ng in 2 days – March 2011
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ICU time is 2X more likely to be longer than 2 days if vitamin D less than 20 ng – Mar 2011
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Virtually all veterans in ICU had vitamin D less than 32 ng – Jan 2011
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Patients low on vitamin D stay in hospital longer after thyroid removal – Dec 2010
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HMOs will save millions of dollars with vitamin D
Note: Annual health premiums increases 2X, deductables increased 3X
Workers Pay More for Health Care as Companies Shift Burden, Survey Finds NYT Sept 2016
US Healthcare is 2X more expensive than in other countries - what can be done
5335 visitors, last modified 24 Feb, 2018,
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This page is in the following categories (# of items in each category)
20 Most-visited pages in "Cost Savings with Vitamin D" category in VitaminDWiki
Items in both categories: "Cost savings with Vitamin D" and "Trauma & Surgery" are listed here:
- 400,000 IU of Vitamin D before surgery should cost-effectively reduce infection after knee replacement – May 2020
- Rotator Cuff repair using Vitamin D lowers medical cost by 46 dollars – June 2023
- Vitamin D is needed before many surgeries – many studies and RCTs
- 10 fewer days of ICU Mechanical Ventilation 300,000 IU injection of vitamin D – RCT March 2019
- Heart attack ICU costs cut in half by Vitamin D – Oct 2018
- Trauma with fracture – 2 weeks longer hospital stay if less than 10 ng vitamin D – Jan 2018
- ICU cost reduced by at least 27,000 dollars if get high dose vitamin D in first week - April 2017
- Vitamin D and Glutamine reduced Trauma Center deaths by half – Matthews March 2017
- Chance of dying in hospital cut in half by just 10 ng higher level of Vitamin D – April 2016
- Hospital ICU added high dose vitamin D - malpractice lawsuit costs dropped from 26 million dollars to ZERO - Oct 2016
- 18 fewer hospital days if given 500,000 IU of vitamin D while ventilated in ICU – RCT June 2016
- ICU death rate reduced 3X when a vitamin D injection changed the PTH – Nov 2015
- Children stayed in ICU 3.5 days longer if low vitamin D – Dec 2015
- Heart Attack ICU costs reduced $37,000 by $20 of Vitamin D – Nov 2015
- Surgical outcomes are better for higher levels of Vitamin D – systematic review May 2015
- Shorter time in ICU if have higher level of vitamin D – April 2012
- Spinal fusion patients often low on vitamin D - Nov 2011
- Staph infection reduced 50 percent when have more than 30 ng of vitamin D – Aug 2011
- Sepsis is both prevented and treated by Vitamin D - many studies
- MRSA inpatient cost 2X higher if less than 20 ng vitamin D – June 2011
- 540000 IU before ICU raised vitamin D by 25 ng in 2 days – March 2011
- ICU time is 2X more likely to be longer than 2 days if vitamin D less than 20 ng – Mar 2011
- Virtually all veterans in ICU had vitamin D less than 32 ng – Jan 2011
- Patients low on vitamin D stay in hospital longer after thyroid removal – Dec 2010
- HMOs will save millions of dollars with vitamin D
Note: Annual health premiums increases 2X, deductables increased 3X
Workers Pay More for Health Care as Companies Shift Burden, Survey Finds NYT Sept 2016
US Healthcare is 2X more expensive than in other countries - what can be done
(Cached)
Printer Friendly
Follow this page for updates
| 5335 visitors, last modified 24 Feb, 2018, |
This page is in the following categories (# of items in each category)