“There has long been broad agreement among experts about the kinds of changes to the delivery system that must occur to improve its quality and contain its costs, to the point where they are now almost clichés. They include much more emphasis on prevention, patient education, and effective management of chronic conditions such as diabetes and heart disease. They also include care that is centered on patients rather than on maximizing the income and convenience of providers, and that is coordinated through careful teamwork among doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals to treat the whole patient, as opposed to isolated specialists treating just one body part at a time. “We know from the example of integrated providers like Utah’s Intermountain Healthcare that when such changes are implemented they improve patient outcomes while reducing costs by as much as 40 percent. That’s why the architects of Obamacare were able to creditably claim that it is possible to vastly expand access to health care, improve its quality, and control costs all at the same time. But that will never happen as long as America’s system for training doctors remains unreformed.”
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 20:35:06 +0000
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