Medicare patients in Idaho are opting for the operating table more than in other states | Health & Fitness | Idaho Statesman
Idaho doctors and their patients are more willing than most to choose surgery for some ailments, forgoing less-invasive and possibly less-expensive options, according to researchers at the Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy and Clinical Practice.
Idaho health insurers and Treasure Valley doctors are hoping that will change as more Idahoans learn of nonsurgical ways to treat problems like back and joint pain.
The Dartmouth Institute’s project, using data from the last decade, reported this week that Medicare patients in Idaho are choosing to have back, hip and knee operations more often than patients in other states.
Back-surgery numbers tend to vary between regions and states, because there is no consensus on how to treat back pain or even diagnose its cause, the Dartmouth report said. There are several possible reasons for Idaho’s numbers, ranging from frequency or type of back injuries to patient preference.
Medicare has paid for almost twice as many back surgeries in Boise, per 1,000 patients, as it has in the average U.S. city. Surgical claims are trending higher for Idaho’s private insurers, too. [...]
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Audrey Dutton: 377-6448
And these are just medical alternatives. If we open up the field and let people get treated how and by whom they like across all forms of care those costs can be brought even lower.
I find this statement unfortunate: "'At the center of this is the cost,' said Georganne Benjamin, spokeswoman for Regence. 'If they are more informed about their options, that will begin to address the cost of health care.'" When the center of the issue is no longer the cost, but health and sustained well-being, and amelioration of disease and it's symptoms, then our choices will trend toward greater efficiency in those areas. Until then, if money is the only thing that will sufficiently motivate us to make the necessary changes, so be it.
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