HT24 Week 5 Internal Uehiro Seminar

Title: Healthcare Accounting and Bioethics

Abstract: 

My central thesis is that how we count the amount of money we spend on healthcare is very outdated and likely causes damage. My instinct is that whatever gains we get from doing this type of accounting are not sufficient to outweigh the damage caused.  However, it is unlikely that countries will stop doing this accounting. In light of that, I am hoping to develop a method of modernizing the accounting so that it takes into account the advances we have made in how we think about health, social justice, and the built environment, among other things. 

Countries routinely count the amount of money they spend on health care. These figures are made public and are widely reported and discussed. The methods used to calculate these amounts are regularly modified to reflect accounting concerns and the need to draw lines to ensure order in the methods.  Furthermore, generally speaking, conversations that use these numbers, conversations about gross health care spending and per capita spending, reflect concerns about overspending and desires for the numbers to be reduced. 

The way things are counted, what we choose to count, how we do so, the lines we draw between gross and net expenditures, etc., reflect value judgments. Where counting methodology is determined by statute and regulation, these lines also reflect political concerns and political power. However, current methods do not reflect open debate or consideration of what values are considered, nor have they been modernized to take account of our increased sophistication about how to think about healthcare, health, spending on it, etc

A hybrid event for Uehiro Centre Members and Associates (booking not required).