Median U.S. "Years of Potential Life Lost" are much higher for several types of conditions when compared to the same measure for the remaining 33 countries in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, according to a report on The Incidental Economist, digging into the Journal of the American Medical Association's November 2013 piece on the state of the healthcare system.
The U.S.'s median YPLL are greater among all conditions than those of the OECD in all but one or two categories of condition (YPLL due to neoplasms, YPLL due to nervous system disorders).
Sign up for our FREE E-Weekly for more coverage like this sent to your inbox!
Median YPLL for the U.S. are particularly greater than the OECD's medians for respiratory system disorders ( 2 times greater), blood/blood-forming organ disorders (2.1 times greater), musculoskeletal/connective tissue disorders (2.1 times greater), endocrine/nutritional/metabolic diseases (2.3 times greater), genitourinary disorders (2.7 times greater), infectious and parasitic diseases (3 times greater) and skin/subcutaneous tissue disorders (3.3 times greater).
According to the original research article in JAMA, the reason for "the breadth and consistency of the U.S. underperformance across disease categories suggests that the United States pays a penalty for its extreme fragmentation, financial incentives that favor procedures over comprehensive longitudinal care and absence of organizational strategy at the individual system level."
More Articles on Quality:
More Dually Eligible Patients? More Readmissions Penalties
Wealthier Patients Happier With Providers, Survey Finds
For FDA, Expedited Drug Review Has Trade-Offs