In recent years there has been a drive to improve the value obtained from healthcare spending. When questioned, most health system analysts focus on improvements in quality of care, or on reduction of wasteful spending…. Read more
Western countries are extremely lucky to benefit from both wealth and longevity. This is something that hasn’t happened in previous generations. It is widely believed that healthcare, including public health, has contributed immensely to this… Read more
Healthcare is usually planned as an implementation exercise. However, strategy is no less important than other industries – even more so now that 24/7 interconnectedness allows us to move from a system of intermittent, reactive… Read more
Hospitals have been looking for ways to improve quality and operational efficiency and cut costs for nearly three decades. However, based on recent reports, approximately 200,000 Americans die from preventable medical errors. In 2008, medical… Read more
Technology has a lot to offer health care. However, its development and implementation can often be slow and complicated. We do not need to be waiting idly for advanced technology to arrive – there is… Read more
How do we convince health administrators of the benefit of interventions when the savings aren’t ‘seen’ in decreased expenditure, but are spent on alternative/ extra services that otherwise couldn’t occur? The author here suggests on… Read more
Summary: In a one-year trial, patients who were allowed to read all the notes their doctors wrote about them in their medical charts were enthusiastic. Surprisingly, so were most of their doctors. http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/10/04/letting-patients-read-the-doctors-notes/ Comment: Consistent… Read more
Please email me if you would like a copy of this article, or view it at http://hbr.org/2011/09/how-to-solve-the-cost-crisis-in-health-care/ar/1 The authors present a new model for costing healthcare, that better apportions costs to activites. This allows understanding… Read more
How do we apply this thinking to healthcare delivery, which has become increasingly complex and expensive? From: www.shirky.com/weblog/2010/04/the-collapse-of-complex-business-models/ “… when the ecosystem stops rewarding complexity, it is the people who figure out how to work… Read more