By Eric Urquiza

The US spends more on health care as a share of the economy than any other country. In fact, 2021 saw a total spend of $4.3 trillion alone. But in response to the current economic downturn, hospitals and other care organizations aim to reduce costs without sacrificing patient outcomes. Addressing unnecessary health care spending is crucial to the shift to value-based care, yet significant industry changes must occur to achieve these goals. If cost reduction goals remain unmet, equity in health care is harder to achieve, and individual financial security is threatened.

Here are four ways health care organizations can better manage costs in 2023:
1. Increase access to preventative treatment
Think of preventative care as the first step to overall health and wellness. Early intervention helps patients avoid chronic conditions and manages these conditions when they emerge. Prevention and disease management decreases the likelihood of complications for patients down the road. Once prevention is no longer possible or manageable conditions worsen and reach a crisis point, emergency department (ED) visits increase. Uncontrolled chronic conditions and elevated ED usage drive up costs for patients, health plans, and accountable care organizations (ACOs), mainly because hospital care makes up nearly one-third of health care spending in the United States. Scalable digital health tools increase access to preventative care, which has been definitively linked to improved patient outcomes.

Prevention also contributes to overall savings within the industry and reduces health inequity, often leading to diminished patient outcomes. It all starts with the primary care provider (PCP) – patients with a trusted PCP are more likely to receive recommended preventative services, like vaccines and cancer screenings. This allows for early intervention of emerging issues before they become severe. As a result, care is less invasive and costly for the patient and strenuous on hospitals.

2. Prioritize employee retention
Medical professionals with administrative tasks on top of patient responsibilities are more likely to experience burnout. This ultimately leads to turnover.

More than 18 percent of office staff in primary care practices turned over annually, according to the Medical Group Management Association (MGMA) DataDive Cost and Operations datasets. Related data on practice operations suggest that turnover may be even higher post-pandemic. The Quick Covid-19 Primary Care Survey conducted in early 2022 by the Larry A. Green Center, in collaboration with the Primary Care Collaborative (PCC), reveals that more than half of primary care practices reduced the staff per clinician, and 68% of practices reported unfilled support staff positions. This issue can be costly - the MGMA Stat poll also revealed that more than 60% of practices expect to increase salaries between 3-5% during 2023. The 2023 wage increases are compounded by an average wage increase among practice staff of 5% in 2022. Clinical staff received a large portion of these increases, with annual salaries growing from 15-25 percent during 2022.

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