In this readable and well-researched book, Ken Terry analyzes the current state of health care reform and finds it wanting. Instead of tackling the core problems in our failing system, he argues, politicians, insurance executives, and health care leaders have embraced ideologically driven initiatives that pursue impractical objectives or will take too long to bear fruit. Among these are such widely hailed trends as disease management, pay for performance, cost and price ìtransparency, î consumer-directed care, and health information technology, none of which will reverse the rising tide of health spending. What is creating this nightmare scenario, according to Terry, is the sheer profitability of the health care industry. Insurers, physicians, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, and device manufacturers are all striving to maximize their profits, and there is no effective competition or regulation to restrain them. Only a complete overhaul of our system for financing and delivering health care can get us out of this mess, the author maintains. In the second half of his book, he presents a bold vision of how to do this: First, he says, all primary care physicians should join group practices that are large enough to take financial responsibility for professional services. And second, competition among those physician groups, based on cost and quality, should replace competition among health plans. There should be only one government-regulated insurer per region, he says, and it should have no role in managing care.

A groundbreaking prescription for health care reform--from a legendaryleader in innovation . . . Our health care system is in critical condition. Each year, fewer Americans can afford it, fewer businesses can provide it, and fewer government programs can promise it for future generations. We need a cure, and we need it now. Harvard Business School’s Clayton M. Christensen—whose bestselling The Innovator’s Dilemma revolutionized the business world—presents The Innovator’s Prescription, a comprehensive analysis of the strategies that will improvehealth care and make it affordable. Christensen applies the principles of disruptive innovation to the broken health care system with two pioneers in the field—Dr. Jerome Grossman and Dr. Jason Hwang. Together, they examine arange of symptoms and offer proven solutions. YOU’LL DISCOVER HOW “Precision medicine” reduces costs and makes good on the promise of personalized care Disruptive business models improve quality, accessibility, and affordability by changing the way hospitals and doctors work Patient networks enable better treatment of chronic diseases Employers can change the roles they play in health care to compete effectively in the era of globalization Insurance and regulatory reforms stimulate disruption in health care

"A graphic explanation of the PPACA act"--Provided by publisher.

Thanks to remarkable advances in modern health care attributable to science, engineering, and medicine, it is now possible to cure or manage illnesses that were long deemed untreatable. At the same time, however, the United States is facing the vexing challenge of a seemingly uncontrolled rise in the cost of health care. Total medical expenditures are rapidly approaching 20 percent of the gross domestic product and are crowding out other priorities of national importance. The use of increasingly expensive prescription drugs is a significant part of this problem, making the cost of biopharmaceuticals a serious national concern with broad political implications. Especially with the highly visible and very large price increases for prescription drugs that have occurred in recent years, finding a way to make prescription medicinesâ€"and health care at largeâ€"more affordable for everyone has become a socioeconomic imperative. Affordability is a complex function of factors, including not just the prices of the drugs themselves, but also the details of an individual's insurance coverage and the number of medical conditions that an individual or family confronts. Therefore, any solution to the affordability issue will require considering all of these factors together. The current high and increasing costs of prescription drugsâ€"coupled with the broader trends in overall health care costsâ€"is unsustainable to society as a whole. Making Medicines Affordable examines patient access to affordable and effective therapies, with emphasis on drug pricing, inflation in the cost of drugs, and insurance design. This report explores structural and policy factors influencing drug pricing, drug access programs, the emerging role of comparative effectiveness assessments in payment policies, changing finances of medical practice with regard to drug costs and reimbursement, and measures to prevent drug shortages and foster continued innovation in drug development. It makes recommendations for policy actions that could address drug price trends, improve patient access to affordable and effective treatments, and encourage innovations that address significant needs in health care.

Today, employed physicians and independent physicians alike feel powerless. Hospital-employed doctors feel like cogs in a machine, and community doctors are increasingly threatened by forces beyond their control. Physician-led healthcare reform would give them back a large measure of control and pride in their work. The Medicare for All debate has mostly focused on how the U.S. should finance healthcare. This book, directed to physicians, healthcare administrators, health policy experts, politicians, and consumers, explains why the U.S. healthcare delivery system must be restructured to lower costs--and how to do it. Unless we can get doctors to change how they practice, Medicare for All will struggle with the same cost pressures that have made our system the most expensive in the world. The biggest problems of physicians--both employed and independent--are a loss of professional autonomy, overwhelming administrative requirements, and the conflict between business and patient care imperatives. From the Foreword "With this manual, leaders of health systems and medical groups can achieve these goals and align their physicians, management, care teams, payers, and patients to deliver exceptional care that will improve quality while lowering costs, resulting in better care, better patient experience, and more affordable health care." This book, at this critical time, offers a comprehensive argument in favor of physician-led reform. Table of Contents Chapter 1 - Medicare for All Lives Chapter 2 - Obamacare: A Work in Progress Chapter 3 - Industry Consolidation on Steriods Chapter 4 - Primary Care on The Ropes Chapter 5 - Waste Not, Want Not Chapter 6 - Population Health Management Chapter 7 - Addressing Social Determinants of Health Chapter 8 - Physician-led Healthcare Reform Chapter 9 - Building the New Delivery System Chapter 10 - Taking Advantage of Health IT Chapter 11 - The Payoff Chapter 12 - Drugs and the Technology Challenge Final Thoughts

Health care reform has dominated public discourse over the past several years, and the recent passage of the Affordable Care Act, rather than quell the rhetoric, has sparked even more debate. Donald A. Barr reviews the current structure of the American health care system, describing the historical and political contexts in which it developed and the core policy issues that continue to confront us today. This comprehensive analysis introduces the various organizations and institutions that make the U.S. health care system work—or fail to work, as the case may be. A principal message of the book is the seeming paradox of the quality of health care in this country—on the one hand it is the best medical care system in the world, on the other it is one of the worst among developed countries because of how it is organized. Barr introduces readers to broad cultural issues surrounding health care policy, such as access, affordability, and quality. He discusses specific elements of U.S. health care, including insurance, especially Medicare and Medicaid, the shift to for-profit managed care, the pharmaceutical industry, issues of long-term care, the plight of the uninsured, medical errors, and nursing shortages. The latest edition of this widely adopted text updates the description and discussion of key sectors of America’s health care system in light of the Affordable Care Act.