subject: Productivity in Heart Attack Treatments #1 [print this page] Productivity in Heart Attack Treatments #1
Health care spending is growing rapidly in the U.S. and, at 14% of GDP, is much larger than such spending in other industrialized countries.The increase in spending reflects not only changing U.S. demographics but also the use of new, and often costly, treatments, as well as institutional factors relating to health insurance and the structure of the health care industry.The question naturally arises, then, whether the increasing cost of treatments has been accompanied by more effective, or, equivalently, more productive, health care services.
This Economic Letter addresses this question by taking a detailed look at treatments for one particular condition, heart attacks. An economic analysis of this disease is important in its own right: in 1999, heart attack patients numbered around 829,000, with medical treatment costing an average of over $20,000 per patient, and heart attacks accounted for around 199,000 deaths. Moreover, because heart attack treatments exhibit the same patterns of growth as the overall health sector, this analysis also can illuminate developments in the entire health sector.
Heart attacks and treatments Heart attacks occur when the arteries that supply blood to the heart are blocked.Without oxygen from the blood, part of the heart muscle can die within hours. Heart attack treatments have two goals: in the short run, to limit immediate damage to the
heart; in the long run, to reduce arterial blockage. Heart attack patients typically receive a combination of therapies, which may include both invasive (or surgical) and non-invasive treatments.The primary invasive treatments are heart bypass surgery and angioplasty, both of which are preceded by diagnostic surgical treatments.
Bypass surgery involves grafting an artery or vein around the blocked artery. Angioplasty involves using a balloon catheter to break up blockages in arteries. Non-invasive procedures include drug therapies such as clot-busting (thrombolytic) drugs and ACE inhibitors that reduce the pressure of blood flowing to the heart, as well as therapies to change lifestyles, such as exercise and smoking cessation programs.
You Can Read More Heart Attack Article at: HeartAttack.gooprice.com
