WHY IS AHRQ SO IMPORTANT

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WHY IS AHRQ SO IMPORTANT?

• April 15, 2002

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AHRQ is our

• Quality agency.
• Research agency devoted to improving health care
  (vs studying mechanisms of disease).
• Way of using science to make the health care
  system work for us in a way we can sustain.
• Key source of best approaches to actually
  relieve suffering, cure the curable, prevent the
  preventable.

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A Little Statistical Compassion

• In 2000, our health expenditures totaled
  1,299,500,000,000 --or--4637 per capita.
• In 2002, we expect to spend 1,545,900,000,000--
  or--5427 per capita.
• No other nation on the planet spends like this.
  (About 167,000,000 while we are sitting here)
• Instead of the news reporting superior results,
  the news is about lack of inclusion of people in
  the system, lack of coverage, errors,
  dissatisfaction, and ranking 37th in the WHO
  report.
• Something is badly wrong.

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Where Will This Money Be Spent This Year?

• Hospital care 476,100,000,000
• Physician services 336,000,000,000
• Dental services 68,100,000,000
• Nursing homes 103,800,000,000
• Home care 39,900,000,000
• Prescription drugs 160,900,000,000
• Administration of insurance 107,200,000,000
• AHRQ 300,000,000

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Where Do People Actually Get There Healthcare?

• The New Ecology of Medical Care in the United
  States

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In an average month
1000 people
800 have symptoms
327 consider seeking medical care
217 visit a physicians office 113 visit primary
care physicians office
65 visit CAM provider
21 visit a hospital outpatient clinic
14 receive home health care
13 visit an emergency department
8 are in a hospital
New Ecology of Medical Care - 2000
lt1 is in an academic health center hospital
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How About Insurance and Having a Usual Source of
Care?

• Lets see how the ecology of medical care is
  affected by these factors in the United States.

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Why Do Family Physicians and other Primary Care
Physicians Care About This?

• Lets look at conditions that are
  life-threatening, afflict many, and are actually
  amenable to treatments now available.

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The Usual Source of Care and Office Visits for
People with Selected Priority Conditions in The
United States
Percent of people with the condition and an
individual provider as a usual source of care for
whom this type of provider was the usual source
of care. (Medical Expenditure Panel Survey
1996). Percent of all visits to office-based
physicians, at which this condition was reported
as a diagnosis, that were made to this type of
provider (National Ambulatory Medical Care Survey
1996).
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Thank You!The Robert Graham Center Staff

• Susan Dovey
• Ed Fryer
• Larry Green
• Bob Phillips
• Lisa Smith