Chris Murphy: “80 percent of the Nation's total medical care costs, including Medicaid expenditures, are spent in the treatment of…”

“80 percent of the Nation's total medical care costs, including Medicaid expenditures, are spent in the treatment of chronic conditions such as diabetes, arthritis, and cardiovascular disease. Chronic disease often involves multiple diagnoses, hospitalizations, tests, and treatments. All of this is expensive and complex, and as health care costs soar we can save lives and money using better patient management. Under patient care management plans, patients are monitored by nurses to coordinate their complex care, monitor prescription use, watch out for problems, and empower patients to get involved in their own care. Money spent up front dramatically lowers health care costs and, most importantly, improves patient outcome. A patient management program at the Washington Hospital in southwestern Pennsylvania taught patients to self-manage their disease through diet, lifestyle changes, medication monitoring, and depression screening. The result has been a remarkable 50 percent decrease in hospital readmission rates. I urge my colleagues to learn more about reducing costs in Federal Medicare and Medicaid spending through better patient care management programs by visiting my Web site at murphy.house.gov. ____________________”