Focus of healthcare system questioned by experts

A panel of experts from the Alliance for Health Reform held a press conference where they discussed issues with the healthcare system and solutions that the respective presidential candidates have proposed.

Mark McClellan, director of the Brookings Institution’s Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform, explained that there is a need for an “underlying change” in the way treatment is implemented. According to McClellan, the current system should focus on more effective treatment that would address patients’ immediate needs instead of inefficient care that leads to further visits.

Presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain’s proposals are not new, said McClellan. One reason for this is that the Bush administration tax cuts and the Iraq War have hampered the system from adjusting spending.

Uwe Reinhardt, professor of economics and public affairs at Princeton University, stressed the importance of advanced Health Information Technology that traces the cost of treatment and the quality of the care. Such technology, however, can cost individual hospitals 50 to 60 million dollars a year to maintain