Reduce Administrative Waste

 VI. Key Issues: Financing and Delivery >> Health Spending >> Health Cost Containment  >> Improve Administration >> Reduce Administrative Waste (last updated 2.19.17)

This section examines the benefits and costs of various options to reduce administrative waste in health care, including waste incurred by health plans, health facilities, health professionals and payers. Discussion of health reform policy proposals related to reductions in administrative waste (i.e., policy options under discussion and not yet adopted or implemented) is contained at Administrative Waste under Health Reform, Components of Reform, Cost Containment.

Links

• Deloitte. Administrative costs in health plans: A systematic review of current studies. Deloitte Center for Health Solutions, Washington, DC, December 2009. This study compares and contrasts the findings from the following studies:
  • Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, Office of the Actuary, National Health Statistics Group; U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Economic Analysis; and U.S. Bureau of the Census. “Private Health Insurance Premiums, Benefits and Net Cost, Selected Calendar Years 1980-2007: NHE Data Table 12: CMS Web Site.” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Web Site. 2008. (accessed December 4, 2009).
  • Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. “Administrative and operating expenses: 2008 CMS Data Compendium.” The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. 2008. (accessed December 6, 2009).
  • Kahn, James G, Richard Kronick, Mary Kreger, and David Gans. “The Cost Of Health Insurance Administration In California: Estimates For Insurers, Physicians, And Hospitals.” Health Affairs 24, no. 6 (2005).
  • McKinsey Global Institute. “Accounting for the Cost of Health Care in the US.” McKinsey Global Institute. January 2007.  (accessed December 4, 2009).
  • Milliman Consulting for the Council on Affordable Health Insurance. “Medicare’s Hidden Administrative Costs: A Comparison of Medicare and the Private Sector.” The Council for Affordable Health Insurance Web Site. January 10, 2006 (accessed December 3, 2009).
  • Sherlock, Douglas of the Sherlock Company. “BCBS association: Issues: Uninsured: The Sherlock Report.” BCBS Association of America Web Site. Sherlock COmpany. October 2009 (accessed December 2, 2009).
  • The General Accounting Office. “Medicare Advantage Organizations: Actual Expenses and Profits Compared to Projections for 2005

    .” Washington DC: GAO, 2008.

  • The Lewin Group.
    • “A Path to a High Performance U.S. Health Care System Technical Documentation.” The Lewin Group. February 19, 2009 (accessed December 7, 2009).
    •  “The Path to a High Performance U.S. Health System: A 2020 Vision and the Policies to Pave the Way.” The Commonwealth Fund. February 19, 2009 (accessed December 2, 2009).
  • Woolhandler, Steffie, Terry Campbell, and David Himmelstein. “Costs of Health Care Administration in the United States and Canada.” NEJM 349 (2003).
• Robert A. Book. Medicare Administrative Costs Are Higher, Not Lower, Than for Private Insurance. (June 2009)
• Cutler, David M., and Dan P. Ly. 2011. “The (Paper)Work of Medicine: Understanding International Medical Costs.” Journal of Economic Perspectives, 25(2): 3-25. Systematic comparison of international health spending differences.
• Mark Litow. “Medicare versus Private Health Insurance: The Cost of Administration.” (Milliman, January 6, 2006).
• Avik Roy. The Myth of Medicare’s ‘Low Administrative Costs.’ (June, 2011)
• Douglas Sherlock. “Administrative Expenses of Health Plans“ (2009).

• Thomas H. Stanton. “The Administration of Medicare: A Neglected Issue.” Washington and Lee Law Review Volume 60 | Issue 4 Article 11 (9-1-2003).

• Kip Sullivan. “How to Think Clearly about Medicare Administrative Costs: Data Sources and Measurement.”

  Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.

• Administrative Waste (Health Affairs search)