Which is not a "painless" cost control strategy?

Question

Options

• AReduction of administrative waste
• BUse of cost-effective analysis to limit care
• CElimination of inappropriate care
• DElimination of ineffective care

• A
  14% (9)
• B
  56% (36)
• C
  23% (15)
• D
  6% (4)

Explanation

Option B is the correct answer because using cost-effectiveness analysis to limit care is explicitly a rationing strategy - it restricts access to services based on cost thresholds, which directly impacts patients and is therefore considered "painful."

Why the distractors are wrong:

• A (Reduction of administrative waste) is painless because it cuts overhead and bureaucracy without affecting clinical care or patient access.
• C (Elimination of inappropriate care) is painless because removing care that shouldn't be provided in the first place doesn't deprive anyone of beneficial treatment.
• D (Elimination of ineffective care) is painless because stopping treatments that don't work imposes no real loss on patients - they weren't benefiting anyway.

Memory tip: "Painless" strategies reduce costs without restricting patient access. If an option mentions limiting or rationing care, it's automatically painful. Scan the choices for the word "limit" - that's your signal that option B breaks the rule.

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