New issue of Stanford Medicine magazine explores medicine's money crunch
BY ROSANNE SPECTOR
If you don’t have your health, you don’t have anything. Unfortunately, in the United States protecting this most precious asset is breaking the proverbial bank.
A few harrowing statistics:
• U.S. health-care spending neared $2.6 trillion in 2010, which is 17.9 percent of the nation’s gross domestic product. This translates to $8,402 per person.
• More than 75 percent of U.S. health-care spending is due to chronic conditions, which are expected to become even more prevalent as the baby boomer generation ages. In 2000, 125 million people suffered from chronic conditions; by 2020, that number is projected to reach 157 million.
• Competition for biomedical research funding has become cutthroat. At the National Institutes of Health, the world’s biggest funder, requests for dollars rose from 3.6 times the supply in 1998 to 6.5 times the supply in 2011.
What’s behind the crisis? How can we dig ourselves out of this predicament?
Stanford Medicine magazine’s special report on medicine’s money crunch offers some answers and poses more questions.
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Inside the report:
• A story about a young oncologist’s experience as member of a small band of physicians, engineers and management scientists training to battle the waste and perverse financial incentives in America’s medical system. She is part of Stanford’s Clinical Excellence Research Center, led by Arnold Milstein, MD, a major national force in medical service innovation.
• A feature on the intense competition for funding for biomedical research — competition that has reached an all-time high.
• A Q&A with philanthropist Melinda Gates on her campaign to expand access to contraception.
• A piece on the dangerous and costly problem of overscreening for medical conditions, focusing on the seemingly intractable debate over prostate cancer screening.
• Interviews with four major Stanford financial supporters about why they give.
In addition to the special report, this issue of the magazine includes a feature on the career of Stanford University School of Medicine’s dean, Philip Pizzo, MD, a pioneer in pediatric HIV research as well as an academic leader, who is stepping down from the position after 12 years.
The magazine, including Web-only features, is available online at http://stanmed.stanford.edu. Print copies are being sent to subscribers. Others can request a copy at (650) 736-0297 or medmag@stanford.edu.
Stanford Medicine is published three times a year by the medical school’s Office of Communication & Public Affairs. Follow @stanmedmag on Twitter.
- PRINT MEDIA CONTACT
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