Been thinking about game theory stuff (and I have a book, but busily reading PKD and Expressive Processing. But on the drive in to work today (yeah, working post-tday, commute == awesome) got to musing. What if we applied game theory techniques to health care and insurance payment? I’m sure there is already some of that going on with their complex models, but I have to wonder if they could come up with some sort of auction model or whatnot to pay for treatments based on the expected outcomes of those treatments. For example, say a person gets a diagnostic test (like, perhaps, a mam…oh I don’t want to get into that argument!) and that test resulted in identifying disease early and allowing for a successful treatment. The payment for the next patient wishing to get that test should be reimbursed more. If the test, on the other hand, resulted in a false positive or caused ill effects (infection, induced cancer, etc) the reimbursement rate should be lowered for the next patient. If the framework was clear and open, folks would realize that it’s not that the insurance company is trying to screw them out of a test or treatment, it’s just that they are going to be expected to pay out of pocket for a test based on how likely the test will result in positive outcomes.
Or reverse, everyone pays for everything (or a high percentage) out of pocket, and is reimbursed based on their individual outcome. Think your test is worth taking? Pony up the $ and let’s see.