Uwe Reinhardt
Encyclopedia
Uwe E. Reinhardt is a professor
of political economy
at Princeton University
and holds several positions in the healthcare industry. Reinhardt is a prominent scholar in health care economics
and a frequent speaker and author on subjects ranging from the war in Iraq
to the future of Medicare
.
, Germany and later emigrated to Canada where he received his Bachelor of Commerce
degree from University of Saskatchewan
. He later received a PhD
in economics
from Yale University
. He has taught courses in economic theory and policy
, accounting, and health economics
and policy. Reinhardt's scholarly work has focused on economics and policy and includes more far-reaching topics such as cost-benefit analyses of the Lockheed
L-1011 Tri Star and the Space Shuttle
.
, systems of health care around the world, Medicare
reform, and health care spending
. His work has appeared in Health Affairs, The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and The British Medical Journal
.
In a recent paper, Reinhardt discusses the obstacles to success of consumer-directed health care
in light of the lack of transparency in hospital
pricing. Reinhardt suggests several reforms that could lead to better information on hospital pricing
for consumer decision-making, including a national set of Diagnosis-related group
weights to which each hospital
could then apply their own conversion factor. Reinhardt's previous work on hospitals examined the tax
and cost of equity capital
advantages of not-for-profit hospitals
over for-profit hospital
s.
Reinhardt's scholarship has often analyzed the U.S. health care industry in relation to systems around the world. He has argued that higher U.S. health spending is a result of higher U.S. per capita gross domestic product (GDP) as well as intricate and disjointed payment systems. Reinhardt's work on foreign systems of health care
includes a recent analysis of Switzerland
that appeared in JAMA. Reinhardt argues that there is little correlation between the prevalence of consumer choice and the high quality of Swiss health care
.
In 2003, Reinhardt, along with 14 other prominent health policy experts and private health care
industry leaders, signed an open letter arguing that Medicare
should lead the U.S. health care industry in paying for performance by tying financial reimbursement to quality measures.
Reinhardt's work on health care spending
includes his argument that the aging of the U.S. population is not the primary cause of the growth in U.S. health care spending.
of the National Academy of Sciences
, on whose Governing Council he served until 1982. At the Institute, he has served on a number of study panels, including, the Committee on the Implications of For-Profit Medicine, the Committee on Technical Innovation in Medicine, the Committee on the Implications of a Physicians Surplus, and the Committee on the U.S. Physician Supply. In 1996, he was appointed to the Board of Health Care services of the Institute.
From 1986-1995, Reinhardt served three consecutive three-year terms as a Commissioner on the Physician Payment Review Commission (PPRC), established in 1986 by the Congress to advise it on issues related to the payment of physicians. Reinhardt serves as a Commissioner for the Kaiser Family Foundation
Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Reinhardt was or is a member of numerous editorial boards, among them The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, The Journal of Health Economics, the Milbank Quarterly, and Health Affairs.
Currently, Reinhardt serves as a trustee of Duke University
and the Hambrecht and Quist Investors and Life Sciences Investor Funds. He also serves on the Boards of Directors of, and has financial interests in, Boston Scientific Corporation, a leading maker of medical devices, and Amerigroup Corporation, a large health insurer whose clients consist primarily of persons enrolled in Medicare. Reinhardt has also previously served on the Board of Directors of Triad Hospitals, Inc, until that company was merged into Community Health Systems in 2007. Reinhardt is also a regular contributor to the New York Times Economix blog where he writes about economic matters, particularly the economics of health care.
, and pointed out that Canada spends less than half of the U.S. amount and Taiwan spends significantly less than Canada. Reinhardt faulted the seeming U.S. preference for an unwieldy "mishmash of private insurance plans" for the inefficiency. He said if the U.S. could spend half as much on administration, it would save more than enough money to cover all the uninsured.
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
of political economy
Political economy
Political economy originally was the term for studying production, buying, and selling, and their relations with law, custom, and government, as well as with the distribution of national income and wealth, including through the budget process. Political economy originated in moral philosophy...
at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
and holds several positions in the healthcare industry. Reinhardt is a prominent scholar in health care economics
Health economics
Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and health care...
and a frequent speaker and author on subjects ranging from the war in Iraq
Iraq
Iraq ; officially the Republic of Iraq is a country in Western Asia spanning most of the northwestern end of the Zagros mountain range, the eastern part of the Syrian Desert and the northern part of the Arabian Desert....
to the future of Medicare
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
.
Biography
Reinhardt was born in OsnabrückOsnabrück
Osnabrück is a city in Lower Saxony, Germany, some 80 km NNE of Dortmund, 45 km NE of Münster, and some 100 km due west of Hanover. It lies in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest...
, Germany and later emigrated to Canada where he received his Bachelor of Commerce
Bachelor of Commerce
A Bachelor of Commerce is an undergraduate degree in commerce and related subjects. The degree is also known as the Bachelor of Commerce and Administration, or BCA...
degree from University of Saskatchewan
University of Saskatchewan
The University of Saskatchewan is a Canadian public research university, founded in 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. An "Act to establish and incorporate a University for the Province of Saskatchewan" was passed by the...
. He later received a PhD
PHD
PHD may refer to:*Ph.D., a doctorate of philosophy*Ph.D. , a 1980s British group*PHD finger, a protein sequence*PHD Mountain Software, an outdoor clothing and equipment company*PhD Docbook renderer, an XML renderer...
in economics
Economics
Economics is the social science that analyzes the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. The term economics comes from the Ancient Greek from + , hence "rules of the house"...
from Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
. He has taught courses in economic theory and policy
Economic policy
Economic policy refers to the actions that governments take in the economic field. It covers the systems for setting interest rates and government budget as well as the labor market, national ownership, and many other areas of government interventions into the economy.Such policies are often...
, accounting, and health economics
Health economics
Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and health care...
and policy. Reinhardt's scholarly work has focused on economics and policy and includes more far-reaching topics such as cost-benefit analyses of the Lockheed
Lockheed Corporation
The Lockheed Corporation was an American aerospace company. Lockheed was founded in 1912 and later merged with Martin Marietta to form Lockheed Martin in 1995.-Origins:...
L-1011 Tri Star and the Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
.
Research
Reinhardt's most recent research has focused on hospital pricingHealth care prices
Unlike most markets for consumer services in the United States, the health care market generally lacks transparent market-based pricing. Patients are typically not able to comparison shop for medical services based on price, as medical service providers do not typically disclose prices prior to...
, systems of health care around the world, Medicare
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
reform, and health care spending
Health care prices
Unlike most markets for consumer services in the United States, the health care market generally lacks transparent market-based pricing. Patients are typically not able to comparison shop for medical services based on price, as medical service providers do not typically disclose prices prior to...
. His work has appeared in Health Affairs, The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, and The British Medical Journal
BMJ
BMJ is a partially open-access peer-reviewed medical journal. Originally called the British Medical Journal, the title was officially shortened to BMJ in 1988. The journal is published by the BMJ Group, a wholly owned subsidiary of the British Medical Association...
.
In a recent paper, Reinhardt discusses the obstacles to success of consumer-directed health care
Health savings account
A health savings account is a tax-advantaged medical savings account available to taxpayers in the United States who are enrolled in a high-deductible health plan . The funds contributed to an account are not subject to federal income tax at the time of deposit. Unlike a flexible spending account...
in light of the lack of transparency in hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
pricing. Reinhardt suggests several reforms that could lead to better information on hospital pricing
Health care prices
Unlike most markets for consumer services in the United States, the health care market generally lacks transparent market-based pricing. Patients are typically not able to comparison shop for medical services based on price, as medical service providers do not typically disclose prices prior to...
for consumer decision-making, including a national set of Diagnosis-related group
Diagnosis-related group
Diagnosis-related group is a system to classify hospital cases into one of originally 467 groups. The 467th was "Ungroupable." The system of classification was developed as a collaborative project by Robert B Fetter, PhD of the Yale School of Management, and John D Thompson, MPH of the Yale...
weights to which each hospital
Hospital
A hospital is a health care institution providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment. Hospitals often, but not always, provide for inpatient care or longer-term patient stays....
could then apply their own conversion factor. Reinhardt's previous work on hospitals examined the tax
Tax advantage
Tax advantage refers to the economic bonus which applies to certain accounts or investments that are, by statute, tax-reduced, tax-deferred, or tax-free...
and cost of equity capital
Cost of capital
The cost of capital is a term used in the field of financial investment to refer to the cost of a company's funds , or, from an investor's point of view "the shareholder's required return on a portfolio of all the company's existing securities"...
advantages of not-for-profit hospitals
Non-profit hospital
A non-profit hospital, or not-for-profit hospital, is a hospital which is organized as a non-profit corporation. Based on their charitable purpose and most often affiliated with a religious denomination they are a traditional means of delivering medical care in the United States...
over for-profit hospital
For-profit hospital
For-profit hospitals, or alternatively investor-owned hospitals, are investor-owned chains of hospitals which have been established particularly in the United States during the late twentieth century. In contrast to the traditional and more common non-profit hospitals, they attempt to garner a...
s.
Reinhardt's scholarship has often analyzed the U.S. health care industry in relation to systems around the world. He has argued that higher U.S. health spending is a result of higher U.S. per capita gross domestic product (GDP) as well as intricate and disjointed payment systems. Reinhardt's work on foreign systems of health care
Health care system
A health care system is the organization of people, institutions, and resources to deliver health care services to meet the health needs of target populations....
includes a recent analysis of Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
that appeared in JAMA. Reinhardt argues that there is little correlation between the prevalence of consumer choice and the high quality of Swiss health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
.
In 2003, Reinhardt, along with 14 other prominent health policy experts and private health care
Health care
Health care is the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of disease, illness, injury, and other physical and mental impairments in humans. Health care is delivered by practitioners in medicine, chiropractic, dentistry, nursing, pharmacy, allied health, and other care providers...
industry leaders, signed an open letter arguing that Medicare
Medicare (United States)
Medicare is a social insurance program administered by the United States government, providing health insurance coverage to people who are aged 65 and over; to those who are under 65 and are permanently physically disabled or who have a congenital physical disability; or to those who meet other...
should lead the U.S. health care industry in paying for performance by tying financial reimbursement to quality measures.
Reinhardt's work on health care spending
Health care prices
Unlike most markets for consumer services in the United States, the health care market generally lacks transparent market-based pricing. Patients are typically not able to comparison shop for medical services based on price, as medical service providers do not typically disclose prices prior to...
includes his argument that the aging of the U.S. population is not the primary cause of the growth in U.S. health care spending.
Private Industry and Advisory Roles
In addition to his university duties, Reinhardt has been active as an advisor for government, non-profit organizations, and private industry and has held directorships in various for-profit companies in the health industry . In 1978, Professor Reinhardt was elected to the Institute of MedicineInstitute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...
of the National Academy of Sciences
United States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
, on whose Governing Council he served until 1982. At the Institute, he has served on a number of study panels, including, the Committee on the Implications of For-Profit Medicine, the Committee on Technical Innovation in Medicine, the Committee on the Implications of a Physicians Surplus, and the Committee on the U.S. Physician Supply. In 1996, he was appointed to the Board of Health Care services of the Institute.
From 1986-1995, Reinhardt served three consecutive three-year terms as a Commissioner on the Physician Payment Review Commission (PPRC), established in 1986 by the Congress to advise it on issues related to the payment of physicians. Reinhardt serves as a Commissioner for the Kaiser Family Foundation
Kaiser Family Foundation
The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation , or just Kaiser Family Foundation, is a U.S.-based non-profit, private operating foundation headquartered in Menlo Park, California. It focuses on the major health care issues facing the nation, as well as the U.S. role in global health policy...
Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Reinhardt was or is a member of numerous editorial boards, among them The New England Journal of Medicine, JAMA, The Journal of Health Economics, the Milbank Quarterly, and Health Affairs.
Currently, Reinhardt serves as a trustee of Duke University
Duke University
Duke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892. In 1924, tobacco industrialist James B...
and the Hambrecht and Quist Investors and Life Sciences Investor Funds. He also serves on the Boards of Directors of, and has financial interests in, Boston Scientific Corporation, a leading maker of medical devices, and Amerigroup Corporation, a large health insurer whose clients consist primarily of persons enrolled in Medicare. Reinhardt has also previously served on the Board of Directors of Triad Hospitals, Inc, until that company was merged into Community Health Systems in 2007. Reinhardt is also a regular contributor to the New York Times Economix blog where he writes about economic matters, particularly the economics of health care.
Administration
In the 2009 Frontline show "Sick in America", Reinhardt criticized the United States for spending 24% of every health care dollar on administrationHealth administration
Health administration or healthcare administration is the field relating to leadership, management, and administration of hospitals, hospital networks, health care systems, and public health systems...
, and pointed out that Canada spends less than half of the U.S. amount and Taiwan spends significantly less than Canada. Reinhardt faulted the seeming U.S. preference for an unwieldy "mishmash of private insurance plans" for the inefficiency. He said if the U.S. could spend half as much on administration, it would save more than enough money to cover all the uninsured.
Selected Articles
- "Innocents In Uniform." New York Times, March 22, 2003; A5.
- "It’s The Prices, Stupid: Why The United States Is So Different From Other Countries." Health Affairs, May/June 2003; 22(3): 89-105.
- "Reference Pricing For Drugs: Is It Compatible With U.S. Health Care?" Health Affairs, May/June 2003; 22(3): 16-30.
- "Is There Hope for the Uninsured?" Health Affairs, Web Exclusive, August 27, 2003.
- "Does The Aging Of The Population Really Drive The Demand For Health Care?" Health Affairs, November/December 2003; 22(6): 27-39.
- "Paying For Performance: Medicare Should Lead." Health Affairs, November/December 2003; 22(6): 8-10.
- "Little hope for the uninsured." Denver Post, January 25, 2004; E4.
- "An Information Infrastructure For The Pharmaceutical Market." Health Affairs, January/February 2004; 23(1): 107-112.
- "U.S. Health Care Spending In An International Context." Health Affairs, May/June 2004; 23(3): 10-25.
- "The Swiss Health System: Regulated Competition Without Managed Care." JAMA, Sep 8 2004; 292(10):1213-20.
- Who's Paying for our Patriotism Washington Post, Aug 1, 2005; A17.
- "Variations In California Hospital Regions: Another Wake-Up Call For Sleeping Policymakers." Health Affairs, Web Exclusive , Nov 16, 2005.
- "The Pricing Of U.S. Hospital Services: Chaos Behind A Veil Of Secrecy." Health Affairs, January/February 2006; 25(1): 57-69.
- "Health Care Spending And Use Of Information Technology In OECD Countries." Health Affairs, May/June 2006, 25(3): 819-831.
External links
- Uwe Reinhardt's remarks on Princeton Class Day 1995
- Uwe Reinhardt's appearances on National Public Radio
- Institute of Medicine official web site
- Kaiser Family Foundation Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured official web site
- Hambrecht and Quist Capital Investors official web site
- Boston Scientific official web site