What is Meant by Waste in Healthcare?

After mentioning to a friend on Facebook that I want to attack waste in healthcare, he responded, "I think that is great and might be possible. The biggest prob is you deal with a lot of Biohazards. Recycling is always an option, but I'm not sure what kind of options there are for recycling. I'm very much behind less waste and better facility management, but this would take some investigation. In my profession, architects are probably the most underpaid most respected individuals. Quite the paradox. Considering we help shape the environment we all live and work in, it's odd." - Curt

My response: As an architect, shaping the environment I suppose would begin with a financial impact study on recycling. Complexity is added when you combine internal operating and capital costs that offset it...ah, regulations. With my own background, my Monday morning calendar says "tackling handling errors fraught with redundancy" You know, the $4,000 standard kit you didn't need that's tossed in the garbage. Oh, well. Did you say $4,000? Why is that?? -W

Curt's response: "I'm confused? Are we on the same page? I thought you had a question about medical waste."

This brings me to the point of this entry. There is some confusion among people outside the healthcare arena as to what is meant by waste in healthcare.

Although recycling is very important at a tactical level, I'm talking about activities in healthcare management that provide no value to not only an aging and increasing dynamic population with "time to kill", but also have no preventative or predictive measures in place on a large scale to limit costs of providing these services long-term. These costs derive from many sources, but mainly from information flow that is disconnected from the physical flow of all resources. As a supply chain consultant, my job deals with rationalizing all resources to generate capacity and increase the flow of people, materials, and processes which are principals at the heart of industrial engineering and operations research.

Curt responded further by saying, "Oh.! I get ya and agree with ya. As a healthy individual (knock on wood) this is why I set my health insurance to deduct. to a higher level, thus avoiding the "medical waste" I may incur. The health insurance industry in my opinion, hasn't gotten too big but rather it has become more like a mafia-run racket. We give some company some money to "watch over us" and still give them more when we actually need the help. Hell, I have 4 people in my family on my health policy. We use my insurance for medical reasons about once a year per person. After any out-of-pocket expenses for visits, I still am paying far more into the system than I am getting back. Makes you understand why so many people don't have insurance. I've thought a lot about dropping my coverage, but fortunately/or un, I have kids that make it risky. It's one of those necessary evils. For your case though, sounds like you're doing something good and should be telling the people up on Capital Hill that here's what's wrong with health care. Who knows, maybe someone will hear you. Whatever the case, you see my beef with the system and I'm not an old fart. Pretty good stuff."