Preventive Cost Reduction

This article discusses preventive cost reduction in healthcare. It covers the importance of preventive care services, approaches to cost reduction, and how to save on medical costs. The article also highlights the benefits of preventive care services, including lowering disease risks and paying less for medical costs.

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Preventive Cost Reduction
Name
Institution

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Preventive Cost Reduction
In health, it is paramount to establish a system that will help in getting quality services
with the least amount of expenses incurred. In some way almost everyone has been involved in
what is commonly known as ‘wasteful spending’. Such wastes include spending not in any way
associated in giving quality health services which shockingly accounts to almost a fourth of the
total expenditure according to U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The need arises
where we have to develop a system that matches cost to the outcome of the treatments given in
health centers. At the same time as it has been challenging, experts have managed in coming up
with a solution to this headache.
Means to Preventing and Ensuring Cost Reduction
As a result, they have come up with certain measures that need to be undertaken in order
to cut on the amount spent on health care each year. These interventions have by far helped in
doing away with the high prices and the inaccessibility of quality healthcare. Among the many
ways to reduce the health costs one that has been of great assistance relate to preventive care
(Bandura, 2004). It involves taking part in procedures that will help foresee any future
complications and stop the development of certain symptoms. Screenings help find disease
before they spread which reduces the treatment cost immensely.
There are factors that will determine which tests should be undertaken. They include sex,
age and gender. After careful consideration doctors then administer the tests and determine the
necessary cause of action once the results are out. One of the most important preventive
practices is having a physical once a year Hillestad, Bigelow, Bower, Girosi, Meili, Scoville &
Taylor, 2005). It is actually one of the best ways to start preventive care. It goes without saying

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that prevention is better than cure and the earlier a problem is found the easier it will be to solve
with the least expenses incurred.
Preventive Cost Reduction
Healthcare cost has continuously been on the rise thus necessitating the need for ways to
combat this challenge. Among the best forms is adopting preventive care services. Preventive
care mainly focuses on maintaining health and determining your general health status. It usually
involves procedures like immunizations, vaccines and x-rays. According to American Diabetes
Association. (2016), it primarily gives a general overview of your health status and raises
warnings depending on the symptoms presented by a particular patient. Undertaking this
procedure not only reduces costs but also goes a long way in ensuring that severe conditions are
avoided and dealt with at an early stage.
Importance of Preventive Cost Reduction
Lowers Disease Risks
According to statistics, 7 out of 10 Americans die each year from chronic diseases which
were preventable according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. With preventive
care, diseases are caught at an early stage, and it becomes easy to avoid and better control them.
Early screenings like in the case of cancer help detect the disease early and usually are
effectively controlled due to early detection. In these preventive sessions, the health care
provider helps in lowering the risks of contracting some illnesses and also advice on diets that
will help in staying healthy. An absolute focus on regular preventive care along with following
the doctor’s advice results in a more robust and less costly living.
Pay Less for Medical Costs

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Firstly, preventive care helps in lowering the long-term value of managing disease.
Frequently managing a disease involves getting medication, undertaking surgery or going to
therapy like in the case of cancer, chemotherapy (Muennig & Bounthavong, 2016). In the long
run, these costs add up to a significant sum which would have easily been avoided. Take, for
instance, hypertension if reduced by 5 % it would save the US an astounding $25 billion.
According to the Surgeon General’s report in the case of an HIV/AIDS case that is prevented an
estimated $355,000 of a lifetime’s treatment would be saved. Therefore if the disease is caught at
an early stage effective treatment is achieved, and there will be a considerable reduction in the
cost as compared to treating illness after a prolonged period.
Additionally, due to the Affordable Care Act (ACA), many preventive services are
covered entirely by insurances. This translates to a cheaper or altogether free preventive care
service. Generally adopting preventive care may help bring about decreased utilization and lower
costs. Some of these diseases are juggernauts, and their prices can be hard to comprehend.
Therefore it’s deemed better to follow the preventive route.
Approaches to Cost Reduction
A comprehensive demand-side strategy can be a right way of helping reduce healthcare
costs. It gives healthcare users information and incentives that make them much better buyers of
healthcare. The method mostly helps to avoid waste and avoid hard trade-offs in cost. These are
some of how this strategy can be enforced;
Save on Medicines
Medicines are one of the best ways to get rid of aches or certain discomforts common in
our bodies. On average a human being receives a prescription every month and that in effect
brings about a massive expense per annum (American Diabetes Association, 2015). To cut on

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this, generic medicines might be an alternative as in most cases they are much cheaper and have
more or less the same effect as brand-name drugs which come in at a higher cost (Cohen,
Neumann & Weinstein, 2008). It may also be wise to ask a health provider if a much cheaper
drug which treats the same condition is available. It also is wise to remember that not taking
medicines as per a prescription might bring forth further problems which lead to more unwanted
costs.
Selecting a Health Plan
In choosing a program, it is vital to have in mind both your needs and those of your families’.
First, establish the kind of diseases you are facing and pick on a plan with higher premiums that
will ensure proper care. According to Busch, Barry, Vegso, Sindelar & Cullen (2006), if one is in
constant need of health care, then this might be a right way which provides adequate care which
comes at a cheaper cost. If one rarely get medical care, then it will be highly beneficial to get a
plan with a higher deductible which will help save money as lower premiums are enough (Bates,
Saria, Ohno-Machado, Shah & Escobar, 2014).
Use of Benefits
Routine health screenings, vaccinations and annual visits are typically catered for in
insurance policies. These tests easily catch health issues at their onset which makes them simple
to treat. Also, some of these health plans come with case managers who help in handling
complex cases like asthma with little or no expense incurred. In the case of pregnant women,
getting prenatal care has also been made easy which enables you to monitor your child keenly
whereas keeping your health in check (Huang, Gau & Ho, 2015). Discounts and free services are
also part of the package deal for this health plans. IT is always better to maximize on this like in
the case where they offer free gym memberships.

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Taking Care of Health
Lastly, it is of great need to watch out for your health. Adopt diets, hit the gym once in a
while and observe a healthy lifestyle. Well, it is easier said than done but the benefits cannot be
quantified. Staying healthy helps in doing away with expensive tests and the high cost of
maintaining diseases like cancer or diabetes (Szanton, Alfonso, Leff, Guralnik, Wolff, Stockwell
& Bishai, 2018). The essence of it all is to learn how to save money and still get excellent health
care service regardless of any situation.
In this respect, it easy to come to a conclusion that to achieve reduced overall cost in the health
sector, preventive care has proven to be a good alternative. Its benefits are overwhelming and
would suit every situation.

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References
American Diabetes Association. (2015). Standards of medical care in diabetes—2015 abridged
for primary care providers. Clinical diabetes: a publication of the American Diabetes
Association, 33(2), 97.
American Diabetes Association. (2016). 7. Approaches to glycemic treatment. Diabetes
care, 39(Supplement 1), S52-S59.
Bandura, A. (2004). Health promotion by social cognitive means. Health education &
behavior, 31(2), 143-164.
Bates, D. W., Saria, S., Ohno-Machado, L., Shah, A., & Escobar, G. (2014). Big data in health
care: using analytics to identify and manage high-risk and high-cost patients. Health
Affairs, 33(7), 1123-1131.
Busch, S. H., Barry, C. L., Vegso, S. J., Sindelar, J. L., & Cullen, M. R. (2006). Effects of a cost-
sharing exemption on use of preventive services at one large employer. Health
Affairs, 25(6), 1529-1536.
Cohen, J. T., Neumann, P. J., & Weinstein, M. C. (2008). Does preventive care save money?
Health economics and the presidential candidates. New England Journal of
Medicine, 358(7), 661-663.
Hillestad, R., Bigelow, J., Bower, A., Girosi, F., Meili, R., Scoville, R., & Taylor, R. (2005). Can
electronic medical record systems transform health care? Potential health benefits,
savings, and costs. Health affairs, 24(5), 1103-1117.
Hood, L., & Friend, S. H. (2011). Predictive, personalized, preventive, participatory (P4) cancer
medicine. Nature reviews Clinical oncology, 8(3), 184.

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Huang, Y. S., Gau, W. Y., & Ho, J. W. (2015). Cost analysis of two-dimensional warranty for
products with periodic preventive maintenance. Reliability Engineering & System
Safety, 134, 51-58.
Muennig, P., & Bounthavong, M. (2016). Cost-effectiveness analysis in health: a practical
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Szanton, S. L., Alfonso, Y. N., Leff, B., Guralnik, J., Wolff, J. L., Stockwell, I., ... & Bishai, D.
(2018). Medicaid cost savings of a preventive home visit program for disabled older
adults. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society, 66(3), 614-620.