UC Irvine Health Experience With the PSH

Total health care spending in the United States is projected to climb to $4.8 trillion in 2021, up from $2.6 trillion in 2010 and $75 billion in 1970. To put this into context, health care spending will account for nearly 20 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), or one-fifth of the U.S. economy, by 2021.¹  A defense can be made that unhindered health care expenditure is warranted if it parallels better outcomes. Yet with U.S. mean life expectancy at 78.7 and ranked 26th in the world, this argument does not hold to fruition. One must inquire as it pertains to health care: why does the U.S. spend the most, but not deliver the best? A closer investigation of hospital-based care provides the ideal opportunity to resonate the importance of change management. Of total health care spending, a remarkable half (51 percent) goes to pay the cost of medical...