Wheres the Silver Bullet?
n the years ahead, the challenge of controlling health care spending is “very real,” Goodman said, ticking off new technology, the aging population and Americans’ seemingly insatiable desire for health care. “The societal attitudes we have toward health care are different and do promote higher usage, and there has also been a pervasive failure in this country to follow evidence-based medicine, which has tended to increase costs,” she said. Employers are continuing to tweak benefits rather then embrace big changes such as tiered provider networks and consumer-directed health plans, Goodman said. Some plans are experimenting with tiered networks to steer patients to less costly, higher-quality hospitals and physicians, but Goodman predicted the strategy would take hold only in larger markets, where there are significant pricing differences among providers. Despite the buzz, employers are skeptical that consumer-directed health plans are the “silver bullet to address health care costs,” s
