Uwe Reinhardt
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Uwe Ernst Reinhardt (September 24, 1937 – November 14, 2017) was a
professor Professor (commonly abbreviated as Prof.) is an Academy, academic rank at university, universities and other tertiary education, post-secondary education and research institutions in most countries. Literally, ''professor'' derives from Latin ...
of
political economy Political or comparative economy is a branch of political science and economics studying economic systems (e.g. Marketplace, markets and national economies) and their governance by political systems (e.g. law, institutions, and government). Wi ...
at
Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...
and held several positions in the healthcare industry. Reinhardt was a prominent scholar in health care economics and a frequent speaker and author on subjects ranging from the war in
Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...
to the future of Medicare.


Biography

Reinhardt was born 1937 in
Osnabrück Osnabrück (; ; archaic English: ''Osnaburg'') is a city in Lower Saxony in western Germany. It is situated on the river Hase in a valley penned between the Wiehen Hills and the northern tip of the Teutoburg Forest. With a population of 168 ...
, Germany, and later emigrated to Canada, where he received his
Bachelor of Commerce A Bachelor of Commerce (BCom or B Com) is an undergraduate degree in commerce, accounting, mathematics, economics, and management-related subjects. The degree is mainly offered in Commonwealth nations. Structure Bachelor of Commerce The Bac ...
degree from
University of Saskatchewan The University of Saskatchewan (U of S, or USask) is a Universities in Canada, Canadian public university, public research university, founded on March 19, 1907, and located on the east side of the South Saskatchewan River in Saskatoon, Saskatch ...
. He later received a Ph.D. in
economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...
from
Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...
in 1970, with a thesis titled "An Economic Analysis of Physicians' Practices" under the supervision of Richard Ruggles. He taught courses in
economic theory Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interactions of economic agents and how economies work. Microeconomics anal ...
and
policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...
,
accounting Accounting, also known as accountancy, is the process of recording and processing information about economic entity, economic entities, such as businesses and corporations. Accounting measures the results of an organization's economic activit ...
, and
health economics Health economics is a branch of economics concerned with issues related to Health care efficiency, efficiency, effectiveness, value and behavior in the production and consumption of health and healthcare. Health economics is important in dete ...
and
policy Policy is a deliberate system of guidelines to guide decisions and achieve rational outcomes. A policy is a statement of intent and is implemented as a procedure or protocol. Policies are generally adopted by a governance body within an or ...
. Reinhardt's scholarly work focused on economics and policy and included more far-reaching topics such as cost–benefit analyses of the
Lockheed L-1011 TriStar The Lockheed L-1011 TriStar (pronounced "El-ten-eleven") is an American medium-to-long-range, wide-body trijet airliner built by the Lockheed Corporation. It was the third wide-body airliner to enter commercial operations, after the Boeing 747 ...
and the
Space Shuttle The Space Shuttle is a retired, partially reusable launch system, reusable low Earth orbital spacecraft system operated from 1981 to 2011 by the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as part of the Space Shuttle program. ...
. He died of multiple myeloma complications /sepsis on November 14, 2017, in Princeton, NJ. Reinhardt was married to Tsung-Mei Cheng, also known as May Reinhardt. In July 2015, Reinhardt's 2013 syllabus and first lecture for a class titled "Introductory Korean Drama" received attention from several bloggers. By way of explanation, Reinhardt introduced the class by stating: It was not clear whether Reinhardt actually intended to teach the course.


Research

Reinhardt's research focused on hospital pricing, systems of health care around the world, Medicare reform, and health care spending. His work appeared in ''Health Affairs'', ''
The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. Founded in 1812, the journal is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals. Its 2023 impact factor w ...
'', ''
JAMA ''JAMA'' (''The Journal of the American Medical Association'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of b ...
'', '' The British Medical Journal,'' and ''The European Heart Journal''. In one paper, Reinhardt discusses the obstacles to success of consumer-directed health care in light of the lack of transparency in
hospital A hospital is a healthcare institution providing patient treatment with specialized Medical Science, health science and auxiliary healthcare staff and medical equipment. The best-known type of hospital is the general hospital, which typically ...
pricing. He suggests several reforms that could lead to better information on hospital pricing for consumer decision-making, including a national set of
diagnosis-related group Diagnosis-related group (DRG) is a system to classify hospital cases into one of originally 467 groups, with the last group (coded as 470 through v24, 999 thereafter) being "Ungroupable". This system of classification was developed as a collabora ...
weights to which each hospital could then apply its own conversion factor. Reinhardt's previous work on hospitals examined the
tax A tax is a mandatory financial charge or levy imposed on an individual or legal entity by a governmental organization to support government spending and public expenditures collectively or to regulate and reduce negative externalities. Tax co ...
and cost of equity capital advantages of not-for-profit hospitals over
for-profit hospital For-profit hospitals, sometimes referred to as alternatively investor-owned hospitals, are investor-owned hospitals or hospital networks. Many of the for-profit hospitals are located in Europe and North America, with many of them established parti ...
s. Reinhardt's scholarship analyzed the U.S. health care industry in relation to systems around the world. He 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 2004 analysis of
Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...
that appeared in ''JAMA''. In it, Reinhardt argued that there is little correlation between the prevalence of
consumer choice The theory of consumer choice is the branch of microeconomics that relates preferences to consumption expenditures and to consumer demand curves. It analyzes how consumers maximize the desirability of their consumption (as measured by their pr ...
and the high quality of Swiss
health care Health care, or healthcare, is the improvement or maintenance of health via the preventive healthcare, prevention, diagnosis, therapy, treatment, wikt:amelioration, amelioration or cure of disease, illness, injury, and other disability, physic ...
. In 2003, Reinhardt and 14 other experts on health policy and the private health care industry 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.


Private industry and advisory roles

In addition to his university duties, Reinhardt was active as an advisor for government, non-profit organizations, and private industry and held directorships in various for-profit companies in the health industry. Reinhardt served on the Governing Council of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences between 1979 and 1982, after election to the Institute in 1978. At the institute, he 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 to 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 served as a Commissioner for the
Kaiser Family Foundation KFF, which was formerly known as The Kaiser Family Foundation or The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation, is an American non-profit organization, non-profit organization, headquartered in San Francisco, San Francisco, California. It prefers KFF, w ...
Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured. Reinhardt was a member of numerous editorial boards, among them
The New England Journal of Medicine ''The New England Journal of Medicine'' (''NEJM'') is a weekly medical journal published by the Massachusetts Medical Society. Founded in 1812, the journal is among the most prestigious peer-reviewed medical journals. Its 2023 impact factor w ...
,
JAMA ''JAMA'' (''The Journal of the American Medical Association'') is a peer-reviewed medical journal published 48 times a year by the American Medical Association. It publishes original research, reviews, and editorials covering all aspects of b ...
, The Journal of Health Economics, the Milbank Quarterly, and Health Affairs. Reinhardt served as a trustee of
Duke University Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
and the Tekla Family of Funds. He also served on the Boards of Directors of 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. He served on the Board of Directors of Triad Hospitals, Inc, until that company was merged into
Community Health Systems Community Health Systems (CHS) is a Fortune 500 company based in Franklin, Tennessee. It was the largest provider of general hospital healthcare services in the United States in terms of number of acute care facilities. In 2014, CHS had around 2 ...
in 2007. He was a regular contributor to the ''New York Times Economix blog, where he wrote about economic matters, particularly the economics of health care.


Role in Taiwan's healthcare system and awards

In 1989, as
Taiwan Taiwan, officially the Republic of China (ROC), is a country in East Asia. The main geography of Taiwan, island of Taiwan, also known as ''Formosa'', lies between the East China Sea, East and South China Seas in the northwestern Pacific Ocea ...
was restructuring its healthcare system, Reinhardt persuaded its leaders to model it on those of
Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...
and
Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...
. As of 2014, Taiwan's system provides universal care for 6.6% of
GDP Gross domestic product (GDP) is a monetary measure of the total market value of all the final goods and services produced and rendered in a specific time period by a country or countries. GDP is often used to measure the economic performance o ...
. For his contribution, in 2014 he was awarded the nation's Presidential Prize. In 2018, Reinhardt was posthumously awarded the First Grade Medal for Professionalism in Health and Welfare by Taiwan's Ministry of Health and Welfare.


Views


Administration

In the 2009 '' Frontline'' show "Sick Around America", Reinhardt criticized the United States for spending 24% of every health care dollar on
administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...
, and pointed out that Canada spends less than half of the U.S. amount and Taiwan spends significantly less than Canada.Sick Around America
'' Frontline''. 46 minutes in
Transcript
Accessed August 28, 2011.
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


"Little hope for the uninsured."
''Denver Post'', January 25, 2004; E4.


References


External links




Uwe Reinhardt's appearances on National Public Radio

Institute of Medicine official web site

Hambrecht and Quist Capital Investors official web site

Boston Scientific official web site

Reinhardt's posts on the ''New York Times'' Economix blog
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Reinhardt, Uwe 1937 births 2017 deaths American economists Canadian economists Bill Frist Health economists Yale University alumni Princeton University faculty University of Saskatchewan alumni Immigrants to the United States Immigrants to Canada Writers from Osnabrück Recipients of the Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany Members of the National Academy of Medicine