Preventive health services such as daily aspirin use, tobacco cessation screening and alcohol abuse screening can potentially save 2 million lives and nearly $4 billion annually, according to a new paper produced by the National Commission on Prevention Priorities (NCPP). The NCPP is convened by the Partnership for Prevention. Four of the five lead authors perform research with HealthPartners Research Foundation.
The paper, "Greater Use Of Preventive Services In U.S. Health Care Could Save Lives At Little Or No Cost," is published in the September issue of Health Affairs. Its authors analyzed the estimated cost of adopting a package of 20 proven preventive services against the savings that could be generated. They also estimated how much in health care costs would have been saved in a given year if 90 percent of the population had used those services. For 2006, the year selected, the savings were estimated at $3.7 billion.
"By quantifying the many lives saved and high cost-effectiveness of clinical preventive services, our study shows that prevention has really gone the extra mile, meeting a standard rarely met by health treatments. The new health care law appropriately makes these services available for most Americans at lower or no cost, but cost reductions alone won't get us there. We now need health purchasers, insurers, and providers to make every effort to improve their delivery and educate the public about these life-saving preventive services," said Robert J. Gould, Ph.D., President and CEO, Partnership for Prevention.