Newsroom

NPC Updates - February/March, 2004

This Issue:

• New Resources from NPC
• The Value of Investment in Health Care

New Resources from NPC:

• Executive Summary: The Value of Investment in Health Care: Better Care, Better Lives, 2004
  
  Over the past few decades, significant advances in the U.S. health care system have helped people live longer and better lives. Both mortality and disability rates have fallen consistently since the 1970s. This report endeavors to examine costs in the context of benefits received by focusing on overall improvements in health, as well as taking a specific look at four conditions (heart attack, type 2 diabetes, breast cancer, and stroke--disease-specific data available by clicking here) that are among the most common causes of death and disability. See below.
  
• The Value of Investment in Health Care: Better Care, Better Lives, 2004
  
  This study looks at the value of investment in health care for overall health care expenditures as well as for expenditures for the management of four key health conditions--heart attack, type 2 diabetes, stroke, and breast cancer. Evidence from a variety of sources shows that the value of the health gains during this time period are higher than the increased health care expenditures during this time period, indicating that these additional investments in health care add value to the U.S. population.
  
• Disease Management for Diabetes, 2004
  
  This monograph presents 65 studies detailing the impact of educational interventions on diabetes treatment and management as well a information on diabetes disease management programs in development. It is intended to serve as a guide for those interested in developing disease management programs for the treatment of diabetes.
  
• Disease Management for Schizophrenia, 2004
  
  Disease management efforts for schizophrenia are less well established than are efforts for other chronic illnesses such as asthma and diabetes. Managing schizophrenia poses more of a challenge than many other chronic diseases because the illness usually causes greater disability than other mental and physical illnesses. However, disease management strategies have the potential to improve therapeutic outcomes for patients with schizophrenia. This monograph provides and introduction to disease management as well as examples of interventions for schizophrenia.
  
• Disease Management for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease, 2003
  
  This bibliography of disease management and educational interventions focuses on a relatively new disease target for such programs, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). In the year 2000, an estimated 10 million Americans were diagnosed with COPD and another 14 million were undiagnosed. The high morbidity, mortality and cost associated with COPD, as well as a lack of awareness regarding the disease, are incentives to apply disease management strategies. Further education of health care providers and the public could improve the detection and treatment of COPD.
  
• CE Credit: Pain: Current Understanding of Assessment, Management, and Treatments, 2003
  
  Originally released in 2001, CE credit versions of this monograph are now available for pharmacists and physicians. Pain is the most common reason individuals seek health care and about 9 in 10 million Americans regularly suffer from pain. Each year, an estimated 25 million Americans experience acute pain due to injuries or surgery and another 50 million suffer chronic pain. The adverse consequences of undertreated pain are considerable. Poorly managed acute pain may cause serious medical complications, impair recovery from injury or procedures, and can progress to chronic pain. Undertreated chronic pain can impair an individual's ability to carry out daily activities and diminish quality of life.
  
• PDL Issue Brief, 2004
  
  Identifies considerations related to PDLs including policy and procedural issues, provisions for patient protections, specific case studies and evaluation methodologies.
  
• CD-ROM: Medicaid 101 Educational Programming, 2004
  
  This "Medicaid 101" program outlines the history and mission of Medicaid, the drivers behind Medicaid budget growth (e.g., aged, blind, disabled; eligibility expansions), and the role that drugs play in the Medicaid budget. The program was videotaped and may now be delivered to legislators across the country at state, regional and national meetings of legislators via live or electronic presentations. For more information on the program and how it can be customized, contact NPC.

The Value of Investment in Health Care:

On January 28th, a new report, titled The Value of Investment in Health Care: Better Care, Better Lives, was released by The Value Group, a coalition of seven of the nation's leading health organizations. The report finds that over the past 20 years, each additional dollar spent on health care services has produced $2.40 to $3.00 in tangible gains in health care. Without this investment, in the year 2000 alone, there would have been 470,000 more deaths, 2.3 million more people with disabilities, and 206 million more days spent in the hospital. As lawmakers address rising health care costs, this groundbreaking study provides evidence on a critical issue frequently missing from the discussion: the value of our increasing investment in health care.

The report - a compilation of published findings from the top peer-reviewed journals in health and medicine supplemented with original analysis of national data - looks at the value of investment from multiple angles. It documents the dynamic advances in health, lifespan and quality of life due to investments in health care. Specifically, since 1980:

• Annual death rates declined 16%
• Life expectancy from birth increased by more than three years
• Disability rates for seniors fell 25%
• Number of days Americans spent in the hospital fell 56%

The study also indicates that the improvements in outcomes for specific diseases have been even more striking:

• Mortality from heart attacks has been cut nearly in half
• Stroke mortality has been cut by more than a third
• Diabetes can now be managed to dramatically reduce complications such as blindness, kidney failure, stroke, and death
• Breast cancer mortality has been cut by more than 20%
  

To order any of these publications in hard copy (free of charge), please go to our order form or call (703) 620-6390.

Since 1953, NPC has sponsored and conducted scientific, evidence-based analyses of the appropriate use of pharmaceuticals and the clinical and economic value of pharmaceutical innovation. NPC provides educational resources to a variety of health care stakeholders, including patients, clinicians, payers and policy makers. More than 20 research-based pharmaceutical companies are members of the NPC.

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