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The Lone Tree Reporter, March 22, 2001 Health Page5
Health care spending growth rate stays low in 1999 ... ,-,.,. ....
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Spending for all health care m 15.9 percent m 2010. The key remainder of the decade. "
the United States topped $1.2 tril-
lion in 1999, up 5.6 percent from
1998, but continued a six-year
trend of growth below 6 percent,
according to a report by the
Health Care Financing
Administration (HCFA), the fed-
eral agency that runs Medicare
and Medicade.
HCFA projections of future
health care spending predict
faster growth over the next
decade, although not at the high
rates of 1980s and 1990s.
Prescription drugs, accounting
for 9.4 percent of personal health
Spending in 1999, continued to
lead all other health care services
in spending growth with increas-
es of 16.9 percent. Prescription
drug costs are expected to
increase at an average rate of 12.6
percent between 1999 and 2010.
The HCFA report, published in
the journal Health Affairs, says
that between 1993 and 1999,
health spending national aver-
aged increases of 0.5 percentage
points less than the gross domes-
tic product (GDP) as the shift to
managed care and impacts of
Medicare spending from the
Balanced Budget Act (BBA) of
1997 resulted in one-time sav-
ings. Coupled with faster real
growth in the economy, this
resulted in a slight decline in
health spending's share of GDP,
from 13.4 percent in 1993 to 13.0
percent in both 1998 and 1999.
Health care spending is pro-
jected to resume growing as a
share of GDP in 2000, reaching
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factors behind this expected trend
are recent strong household
income growth, the projected
slowdown in economic growth,
continued advances in medical
technology, and the inability of
insurers to sustain the initial cost
savings that resulted from the
shift to managed care.
Medicare spending growth is
projected to accelerate as tempo-
rary BBA effects expire, recent
legislation provides additional
funds, and the transition to new
payment systems is completed.
Currently, annual growth in
Medicare spending remains
low-only 0.1 percent in 1998, and
1.0 percent in 1999. This is well
below the average recorded for
the 1993-1997 period of 9.2 per-
cent. The two-year slowdown is
attributed primarily to the effects
of changing payment systems for
home health care facilities and
nursing homes, falling hospital
case-mix, slower growth in gen-
eral health care costs, and contin-
uing federal government efforts
to detect and reduce fraud and
abuse.
Medicare spending represent-
ed 17.6 percent of every dollar
spent on health care in 1999,
falling from a peak of 19.3 per-
cent of national health expendi-
tures in 1996-1997.
Based on the law in effeCt at
the time the projections were
made, Medicare spending is
expected to increase 6.3 percent
in 2000, with growth averaging
below 7 percent through the
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The Medicare share of total
health spending, without SCHIP
funding, is projected to continue
to rise, from 15.4 percent in 1999
to 16.8 percent in 2010.
Private spending for health
care continued to grow more
• rapidly it 1999 than public
spending. Private spending grew
by 6.2 percent and public spend-
ing by 4.9 percent. The relatively
higher growth in private spending
is expected to continue over the
next six years, in large part
because of rapid spending growth
on prescription drugs, which are
generally not covered by
Medicare.
Growth in spending for pre-
scription drugs continued to out-
pace spending growth for other
health services in 1999, as a
steady shift toward health insur-
ance plans with small out-of-
pocket requirements for drugs
were raised consumer demand.
An increase in the number of pre-
scriptions filled, a larger number
of new, high-priced drugs in the
marketplaCe, higher priCes for
existing drugs, and an increase in
direct-to-customer advertising
expenditures, also contributed to
the higher spending growth rate
for drugs.
Drug spending is projected to
increase by 12.6 percent per year
on average over the next decade,
ultimately reaching 16.0 percent
of personal health spending in
2010, compared to 9.4 percent in
1999•
Hospice receives
$50,000 gift
The Mercy Hospital
Foundation announced that, in
keeping with a commitment to
community, it has awarded Iowa
City Hospice a $50,000 gift from
proceeds generated by the 2000
Festival Of Trees.
Festival leadership promised
sponsors and guests that pro-
ceeds from the 2000 Festival
would be "A Gift of Love - A
Gift of Dignity" for hospice
patients and their families.
Indeed, they will be, as the funds
will be used by Iowa City
Hospice for patient care.
"We are very grateful to the
Mercy" Hospital Foundation
Board and Festival volunteers
for this gift that will help the
families at a difficult time,"
Maggie Elliott, Executive
Director of Iowa City Hospice,
said. "We also appreciated the
opportunity the Festival gave our
organization to continue to edu-
cate the public about our mission
to help our patients live fully and
peacefully through the end of
life."
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HomeSafe, an assistance pro-
gram for elders supported by the
University of Iowa College of
Nursing and the University of
Iowa Hospitals and Clinics
department of nursing, will now
offer it's services statwide.
Barbara Kyles,' nurse coordina-
tor and manager of HomeSafe,
said the program, which was orig-
inally designed for the Iowa City
area, will now provide home visits
to clients all over Iowa.
"We found that Iowa City resi-
dents had family members in
other Iowa communities that
would benefit from the program,"
Kyles said.
In order to orient new nurses
outside Iowa City to the
HomeSafe program, Kyles said
they would hire alumni of the UI
College of Nursing, retired UI
nurses and others with the proper
experiences.
HomeSafe is a nurse-managed
health service plan for older
adults living at home, in senior
housing or in residential care
facilities. The program began in
August 2000 and is the first pro-
gram funded by the University of
Iowa Nursing Enterprise, an ini-
tiative of the UI College of
Depression retreat at
Depressed Anonymous, a non-
profit, 12-step self-help group,
will conduct a one-day retreat at
Prairie Woods Renewal Center for
Eastern Iowa residents.
The retreat will be held from 9
a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday,
April 7, at Prairie Woods Center.
Prairie Woods is located at 120 E.
Boyson Road in Hiawatha.
Gaining insight into depression
is a healing experience. The natur-
al setting of Prairie Woods
Franciscan Spirituality Center is a
place of beauty and peacefulness.
Three speakers will discuss the
topics of Spirituality in the day-
to-day recovery from depression,
relationship between self-esteem
and depression, and life experi-
ences.
The speakers are: Tony
Wobeter, M.A., a psychotherapist
and area speaker on healing and
spirituality. His topic will be spir-
ituality in the day-to-day recovery
Holistic Healing Series
Acupuncture practices and
over-the-counter herbs are the
topics of an upcoming program at
the Cedar Rapids Public Library.
On Monday, March 26, at 6:30
p.m.
Laura Christensen, M.A.,
L.Ac., of Wellsprings
Acupuncture and Health Center,
will guide audience members
through the practices of modern-
day herbology and acupuncture,
during the final session of the
Holistic Healing series, Age of
Acupuncture & Herbs.
Christensen will explain the
origins of both acupuncture and
Traditional Chinese Medicine,
along with the theory behind each
of these alternative healing meth-
ods. Patrons will learn about the
cost of alternative medicinal treat-
ments, as well as the licensing and
regulation of practitioners. The
conditions treated by these prac-
tices will also be discussed.
Nursing and the UI Hospitals and
Clinics Department of Nursing.
Each HomeSafe client is
assigned a nurse manager, who
makes routine visits as well as
phone consultations with the
client and family members. The
frequency of the visits and phone
calls depends on the level of ser-
vice the client requests.
For an annual fee, a client can
purchase one of four difference
levels of the HomeSafe program.
Services include assistance with
medications, transportation, or
help obtaining community ser-
vices.
"This program was set up not
only to provide services to the
elderly, but to actually enhance
their quality of life," Kyles said.
"Often, older adults lose contact
with the community. This pro-
gram helps look at the activities
they enjoy and offers assistance in
continuing."
Those interested in the Home
Safe program and its services can
visit the program's website at
www.nursing.uiowa,edu/sites/h0
mesafe or contact Barb Kyles at
319-335-7123 or
home-safe@uiowa.edu to sched-
ule a free consultation.
Prairie Woods Center
from depression. Dr. Dean Jacobs,
a chiropractor and local speaker
on self esteem, will speak on the
topic of the relationship between
self-esteem and depression. The
third speaker will be Clarice
Flagel, a nationwide speaker well
known for her wit and humor.
She will be speaking on life expe-
riences.
Depressed Anonymous was
founded in 1985 by Dr. Hugh
Smith of Louisville, Kentucky. It
is a twelve-step program to sup-
port persons overcoming depres-
sion.
For information about local
Depressed Anonymous meeting
groups, or to receive a flyer with a
full description of the April 7
retreat, please call Rose at 319-
393-3582 or Linda (Iowa City:
319-466-4669, 319-366-7452).
Submitted by the Organizers
of the Retreat.
at C.R. Public Library
Christensen, an Iowa City
native, is proprietor of
Wellsprings Acupuncture and
Health Center in Iowa City. She
earned her BA in biology from
Oberlin College and her diploma
in acupuncture from the New
England School of Acupuncture
in Boston. Since receiving her
MA in Holistic Counseling
Psychology from Lesley College
in Cambridge, Massachusetts and
her certificate in Chinese Herbal
Medicine from the Institute of
Chinese Herbology, Christensen
has been the recipient of a major-
ity of the therapies used by holis-
tically-oriented practitioners and
presents numerous workshops on
this subject.
There is no charge to attend the
program that will be given in
Beems Auditorium. For more
information, contact the library at
319-398 -5123.