Cash for Lower Cholesterol
A new study offered cash rewards to doctors and the patients to help them lower their cholesterol levels. Yup, you read that right. Here is more:
- Surprisingly, the program was only successful when both the doctor and patient were paid to work together to achieve the common goal, the study found. Patients who shared a financial incentive with their doctor to lower their levels of LDL (“bad”) cholesterol achieved a statistically significant reduction after a year of treatment, the study authors said.
- LDL cholesterol levels didn’t significantly drop if the cold hard cash was offered to either the patient or the doctor alone, the study revealed.
So, that is what it comes down to, paying the doc and the patient. My question is, for what metrics? If you use cholesterol, which marker? And wouldn’t this drive more medication use?
It’s time to cure your cholesterol phobia if you want your brain to survive and function.
I’m incensed and will forego with the vulgarity Doug would have to censor.
I will say primary care is expected to be a nursemaid, guardian angel, secretary and health policemen. We’re not paid enough to do the first three as patients aren’t expected to take responsibility anymore. We’re supposed to “educate them” and they’ll follow. B.S. As far as health policemen, we don’t have any teeth for enforcement, period.
Patients can do whatever they want when they leave the office. This holding Drs. and hospitals accountable for their behavior is insane.
I’m lucky I only have 6 years to go. People can toss all the nice printed
information sheets into their wood stoves.
Now, if the insurance and drug companies want to do a carrot
on a stick routine to encourage patient compliance, fine. I’ve always tried to get people to change their habits and I don’t need a stupid incentive to
“try harder”. Am already maxed. In fact, an incentive/disincentive for patients might be the ONLY way to get behaviors to change in this country.
Oh one other thought. The ivory tower bastards become ivory tower bastards because they can’t handle the responsibilities and travails of a standard practice but they get to make the “rules” for the rest of us.
Kurt
Brilliant idea.
If I am a “drug company” (let’s just come up with a random name… say, “Pfizer”)…
If I am “Pfizer,” and I make a cholesterol lowering drug, and it has been reasonably well proven that lowering cholesterol is good, and I can show that by offering a “small amount of money” (let’s not say “bribe” or “kickback”), well below my profit on the drug, more people will use the drug, then I can make even more money by selling the drug.
And the insurance companies have to pay me, because I’ve proven that this improves health outcomes.
Just think of how happy the orthopedic and cardiac implantable manufacturers will be when they figure out how to put this idea into use.
I wonder whether, by buying lunch for doctors and their staffs, other health outcomes could be improved…?