Fact Sheet

	Rising Health Care Costs
	Obesity
	Patient Safety

Rising Health Care Costs
	National health expenditures are expected to nearly double over the next 10 years. (Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, "National Health Expenditures," 2002.)
	Costs are increasing rapidly. Outpatient hospital care spending grew 16.3% in 2001. Prescription drug spending rose 13.8%. Inpatient hospital care jumped 7.1%. Physician services increased 6.7% in 2001.
	There were 108 million E.R. visits nationally in 2000, up 14% from 95 million in 1997. 10.7% of these E.R. visits were non-urgent.
	Over 22 million potential sick days could be avoided if the "best practice" care found at the nation's top organizations were adopted universally.
	Preventable injury resulting from medical mistakes costs the economy from $17 billion to $29 billion annually, of which half are health care costs.
	In 1995, health care costs attributed to obesity amounted to an estimated $99 billion. In 2000, that number rose to $117 billion, an increase of 18%.
	For every $1 spent on the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine, more than $21 are saved in direct medical care costs; for every $1 spent on the diptheria-tetanus-acellular pertussis vaccine, more than $30 are saved; for every $1 spent on the polio vaccine, more than $6 are saved.

Obesity
	Obesity is a greater trigger for health problems and increased health spending than smoking or drinking. Obese individuals have 30% to 50% more chronic medical problems than those who smoke or drink heavily. And, the effects of obesity are similar to 20 years of aging. (The National Business Group on Health, Institute on the Costs and Health Effects of Obesity, January 2004.)
	An estimated 130 million Americans, or 64%, are overweight or obese. (Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson, March 11, 2004.)
	New Jersey annually spends $2.34 billion on health care related to obesity. This is the tenth highest rate in the nation. ("Taxpayers Foot More Than Half of Obesity-Related Medical Bills," The Wall Street Journal, January 22, 2004.)
	A recent study estimated annual medical spending due to being overweight or obese to be as much as $92.6 billion in 2002. (www.healthaffairs.org)
	The total cost of obesity to U.S. companies is estimated at $13 billion per year. Health insurance costs related to obesity are $8 billion; paid sick leave is $2.4 billion; life insurance is $1.8 billion; and disability insurance is $1 billion. ("Prevention Makes Common Cents: Estimated Economic Costs of Obesity to U.S. Business," U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2003.)
	The U.S. Surgeon General reports that at least three out of five Americans do not engage in the recommended amount of physical activity. Lack of physical exercise leads to chronic disease and conditions such as heart disease, diabetes and arthritis. Each year, the nation spends more than $600 billion to treat these illnesses. ("Walking Works to Help Americans Improve Their Health and Control Health Care Spending," Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, 2003.)
	According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, increasing regular, moderate physical activity among the more than 88 million inactive American adults could reduce annual health care costs by as much as $76.6 billion. ("Higher Direct Medical Costs Associated With Physical Inactivity," The Physician and Sportsmedicine, 2000.)
	A poor diet and lack of physical activity caused more than 400,000 deaths in 2000, a 33% jump over 1990. Tobacco deaths for the same period climbed by less than 9%. (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2004.)

Patient Safety
	The November 1999 report of the Institute of Medicine (IOM) entitled, "To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System", focused a great deal of attention on the issue of medical errors and patient safety. The report indicated that as many as 44,000 to 98,000 people die in hospitals each year as the result of medical errors. ("Medical Errors: The Scope of the Problem," Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2000.)
	Hospital-acquired infections affect about one in 20 hospital patients and add almost $5 billion a year to the nation's health care bill. More people die from such infections than from auto accidents and homicides combined. ("Critical: Disclosing Hospital-Infection Rates," Consumer Reports, February 2004.)
	Approximately one in four Americans receives the wrong medication at some point in his/her life. ("Patient Safety: Survey Finds Strong Support for New Technologies," Managed Care Weekly Digest, March 17, 2003.)
	Medication errors often have tragic consequences for patients. Many serious medication errors result in preventable adverse drug events (ADEs), approximately 20% of which are life-threatening. One ADE adds more than $2,000 on average to the costs of hospitalization. This translates to $2 billion per year in hospital costs alone. Furthermore, this figure excludes other important costs of medication errors, such as malpractice insurance premiums and losses in worker productivity. (The Leapfrog Group for Patient Safety Fact Sheet, April 18, 2003.)
	13% of wrong-site surgeries occur in the wrong person. ("Influencing Change — The Health Plan in Addressing Patient Safety Survey Finds Strong Support for New Technologies," Managed Care Weekly Digest, March 17, 2003.)
	In a group of studies about medical errors in family medicine, the five error types most often observed and reported by U.S. family physicians were: (1) errors in prescribing medications; (2) errors in getting the right laboratory test done for the right patient at the right time; (3) filing system errors; (4) errors in dispensing medications; and (5) errors in responding to abnormal laboratory test results. (American Academy of Family Physicians, January 2003.)
	According to a survey conducted by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 95% of doctors and 89% of nurses in the United States have witnessed a serious medical error. (World Health Professionals Alliance Facts, April 2002.)
	Horizon BCBSNJ offers members access to an online tool to help them make informed health care decisions. With MyQualityCoach,®'' members can: (1) provide feedback about their physicians and hospitals; (2) learn valuable information about physicians and hospitals; and (3) search for information on specific medical conditions. (Horizon Blue Cross Blue Shield of New Jersey, 2004.)
	Fear of malpractice litigation and adverse employment consequences may encourage physicians and other health care professionals to keep silent about patient safety violations. ("Congress Should Pass Patient Safety Legislation Now," Washington Business Group on Health, November 2002.)
	Each year, millions of Americans receive health care services that are unnecessary, increase costs, and may even endanger their health. For example, an analysis of hysterectomies performed on women in seven health plans found that one in six operations was inappropriate. ("Improving Health Care Quality," Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, 2002.)