Presidential candidates should address problems with the U.S. emergency department system and develop a system that allows elderly patients to remain at home longer before they begin "putting forth comprehensive plans for health care reform," business expert Andy Grove writes in a Fortune opinion piece.
According to Grove, to address the "mess" in the ED system, candidates should seek to establish and implement specific national standards for emergency care. "A lot of work has already been done to specify methods of dealing with heart attacks, stroke and other emergencies: Commit to these standards," Grove writes, adding, "The same goes for acceptable patient waiting times: Set the standard and implement it." Candidates also should seek to implement electronic health record systems in EDs and encourage collaboration between EDs and retail health clinics, he writes.
In addition, because U.S. residents on average will spend $280,000 of the $440,000 that they spend on health care in their lifetimes after age 65, "it stands to reason that if there were a way to keep elderly patients in their own homes longer -- without degrading quality of care -- we'd have a cheaper and better system," Grove writes. Candidates should seek to have Medicare cover low-cost technologies to monitors elderly patients in their homes "to detect trouble," according to Grove.
He asks, "Can we afford all this?" Implementation of the ED proposal would cost about $20 billion annually, financed by a "1% surtax on all health care billings," and the elder care proposal could save $30 billion annually "by keeping just 10% of the aging population in their homes," Grove writes. He concludes, "So, yes, Mr./Ms. Presidential Candidate, we can afford it. ... Commit to doing these two concrete things -- now. You will save money. You will improve the lives of millions of citizens. And you will demonstrate to yourself, and to all of us, that we are a country of doers" (Grove, Fortune, 5/29).
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