Collaborating With Providers

Hospitals, physicians and other healthcare providers are seeing more patients and performing more procedures than ever before.

Hospital construction continues across the country – up more than 75 percent in the last five years. At the same time, more treatments and surgeries are being performed on an outpatient basis than in years past – and the number of non-traditional care centers increases every year. For example, the number of retail clinics is projected to more than triple in 2007 from 2006. Specialists are also playing a larger role than in previous years.

Pharmacy expenditures continue to be an important factor in healthcare spending. More prescriptions are being dispensed – 3.7 billion in 2007, up nearly 200 million from 2006. Several popular brand-name drugs are covered by patents due to expire in the next few years, potentially saving consumers money.

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	Hospitals Key observations from this section include: More than half of total hospital spending comes from public sources, but the growth of private health insurance and out-of-pocket payments has outpaced growth in public payments. Every year since 1990, emergency department visits have grown, but the number of emergency departments has been stable since 2002. Retail clinics are emerging alternatives to traditional provider settings.
	Physicians Key observations from this section include: Since 2003, about 80 percent of payments for physician services has come from private health insurance and public funds. In the same time frame, nearly half of the payments for physician services came from private health insurance. Since 1980, visits to specialists have increased by almost 10 percent. For people age 65 and over, the increase is 20%..
	Pharmacy Key observations from this section include: In 2007, private health insurance payments for prescription drugs exceeded public payments. More than half of consumers take a prescription medication weekly. Eleven percent purchase their prescriptions online. In 2006, generic drug approvals were up 46 percent from 2003.