Shared decision-making for preference-sensitive conditions has the potential to improve quality and control spending. States are exploring required use of the technique and it should be considered in federal reform efforts.
Many unions and some disease advocacy groups are objecting to the wellness and prevention provisions proposed in some health reform measures. In a USA Today article, the difficulties of our “system” once again point out the impediments to improvement.
The Wall Street Journal article summarized some research results regarding the potential cost savings of prevention and wellness efforts, particularly for persons with chronic diseases. The overall conclusion is that not much money is likely to be saved by such methods, primarily because the cost of these programs when applied to a large population tends to outweigh the health care cost savings which eventually accrue.
Illumina has announced that for $48,000 a consumer can have their entire DNA sequenced