What's Causing Health Care Spending to Slow?

Those of us in the health care industry (both delivery and financing) are pleasantly surprised, albeit cautiously optimistic, to learn that health care spending has slowed rather dramatically in recent years.  In fact, for the first time ever, the percentage of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) attributable to health care has decreased from 17.3% in 2011 to 17.2% in 2012 ($2.8 trillion).  Fellow health care stakeholders may find it interesting that in1960; health care consumed a mere 5% of our nation’s GDP.  Put another way, in 2012 health care spending grew by 3.7%, which is virtually identical to the spending percentage growth in 2009, 2010, and 2011.  By contrast, in 2002, health care spending grew by a whopping 9.7%.

So while this is great news for the nation, it begs a couple of questions: 1. What is/are the cause(s) of the decline in health care spending; and 2. Is the trend temporary or sustainable?  Let’s examine some of the contributing factors associated with the recent trend.  

To access the complete article, click - https://smstevensandassociates.com/ResourceLibrary/tabid/192/Default.aspx