IOM: One Third of Healthcare Dollars Wasted

Roughly one third of the money spent on U.S. healthcare in 2009 — about $750 billion — didn't improve patients' health, according to an Institute of Medicine report released Thursday.

The report, Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America, outlined six categories of waste — unnecessary services, inefficient delivery of care, unnecessary administrative costs, inflated prices, missed opportunities for prevention, and fraud.

Among the group's recommendations to help improve care while reducing cost:

• Decision-support tools and knowledge management systems at point of care should be an integral part of the healthcare system.

• Clinicians should use digital systems to capture patient care experiences.

• Patients and caregivers should be encouraged to partner with clinicians in making healthcare decisions.

• Clinicians should partner with community-based organizations and public health agencies to coordinate interventions to improve health, including use of Web-based tools.

• The payment system should be reformed to reward quality care.