The Value of Investment in Health Care: Better Care, Better Lives

A recent study by MEDTAP International, in collaboration with researchers at Research Triangle Institute and Duke University, sheds new light on the enormous health and economic gains from greater investment in health care. The pivotal study, "The Value of Investment in Health Care: Better Care, Better Lives," shows the benefits far outweigh the costs, and it measures those benefits in human and economic terms.

The report – a compilation of published findings from the top peer-reviewed journals in health and medicine supplemented with original analysis of national data – looks at the value of investment from multiple angles. It shows from 1980 to 2000 that each additional dollar spent on health care in the U.S. produced tangible health gains of $2.40 to $3. Overall findings by the year 2000 show that:

• Annual mortality rates declined 16 percent
• Disability rates declined 25 percent
• Life expectancy increased 4 percent, or 3.2 years
• Hospital days fell 56 percent

In the four major diseases studied, the report finds in the year 2000:

Mortality from heart attack was cut almost in half
• Deaths from stroke were cut by over one third
• Breast Cancer mortality declined 20 percent
• Diabetes management improved dramatically and produced a 25 percent reduction in complications such as blindness, kidney failure, stroke and death AdvaMed jointly sponsored the report as part of The Value Group with:
• American Hospital Association,
• Federation of American Hospitals,
• American College of Cardiology,
• Healthcare Leadership Council,
• National Pharmaceutical Council and
• Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Researchers of America.    

Read the January 28, 2004  news release  from The Value Group.

Read a statement from AdvaMed's President.

Download the full MedTAP report.

Review the report's executive summary.

Originally posted September 30, 2004;
Updated February 20, 2008