Who Knew? Inside the Complexity of American Health Care

Despite all the writing and the research, America?s health care industry continues to fail at providing health care that is accessible and affordable, with measurable quality. The fundamental reason we have failed is that health care is not only a complex business, but the most complex in our economy. Other industries are disrupted, some readily adapt to new markets; some leverage information technology and innovative and cost-saving ways. But to date, health care has resisted. The customary approaches tried in other industries seem not to apply to health care. Why?

Why is the health care industry so politically divisive? Why is the quality of health care services so difficult to measure? Why do patients often fail to understand their own health care? Why are security and privacy such unique challenges in health care? Why is the payment process for health care services so complicated and challenging? This book seeks to answer these questions.

This book written by a well know industry ?insider? with 35+ years working at senior levels in hospital operations and information technology, discusses nine major factors that in combination contribute to health care?s complexity. The author concludes that until we understand why health is so complex, we will continue to see books complaining about the poor state of health care in the U.S., and proposals for change that are generally unsuccessful, and innovative technology products that fail to deliver expected results.

Introduction to the Complexity of Health Care. Health Care Services: Difficult to Define, Difficult to Measure. The Unique Role of the Physician. Patients as Challenging Customers. Measuring Returns from Health Care IT Investments. Increasing Complexity of Medicine. Clinical Data Management and Sharing. Privacy and Security. Politics Large and Small. How Health Care Markets and Payments Work … or Don’t! Concluding Observations.