
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, February 17, 1994                   TAG: 9402170070
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Medium

STUDY: HEALTH CARE EFFICIENT

Americans' health improved dramatically in the 1980s, as doctors and hospitals made sweeping changes in the way they deliver care, an industry-backed study indicates.

"Contrary to conventional wisdom, we are getting more for our health-care dollars," said Pamela Bailey, president of the National Committee for Quality Health Care, which released the annual report cataloging health trends.

The report showed a 27 percent drop in deaths from heart disease between 1978 and 1990, increases in cancer survival rates, and even a 72 percent drop in mumps cases. Cigarette consumption and alcohol consumption per capita also fell by 25 percent and 4 percent, respectively.

Not all the news was good. AIDS was virtually nonexistent in 1978 and now has claimed a quarter of a million lives, and the number of Americans without insurance rose from 25 million to 37 million.

The health-care system has made major adjustments to operate more efficiently, shortening hospital stays and performing many surgeries on an outpatient basis, said the study by Lewin-VHI, Inc., a health consulting firm.

The indexes were prepared by Dr. Robert Rubin, a Lewin-VHI executive who was an assistant health secretary in the Reagan administration.

The nonprofit committee is the public policy arm of the Healthcare Leadership Council, a group of more than 50 chief executives from the hospital, health and drug industries.

Hospital admissions fell 19 percent between 1978 and 1990, while the number of surgical operations grew by 14 percent, the study found.

Managed care - from health maintenance organizations to insurance plans that require patients to get advance approval before elective surgery - "has reduced costs without compromising quality," said the report.

The report noted that between 1978 and 1990, the elderly population grew sharply, with the number of seniors 85 and older up 29 percent, and those ages 65 to 84 up 12 percent.

People ages 65 to 84 "require an average of 3.6 times more hospital, physician and long-term-care resources than do those under 65," the report said.

by CNB