The American College of Physicians recently published an article about the impact of the recent economic stimulus package on our current health care system. It’s short, take a read.
Yours In Good Health
Pitching April 2, 2008
Today I read a piece entitled Pitching in the New York Times by David Brooks, also of The News Hour with Jim Lehrer (yes, that is a plug for PBS). It’s the beginning of the baseball season and a lot of people are talking baseball but this piece transcended baseball and spoke to me about our society as a whole and our health care system in particular. Brooks discussed the book “The Mental ABC’s of Pitching,” by a sports psychologist named H.A. Dorfman. It was fascinating. It may seem alittle astray from my normal blog post but just indulge me. Dorfmans’ book is about the art of pitching and how pitchers become successful. His mantra is built on discipline and the belief that behavior shapes thought (At some point we will look at the science behind that.)
To me, Brooks analysis of Dorfman’s book came down to focus or as he describes it “putting the task at the center.” By putting the task at the center it quiets the background noise. Yesterday I wrote about the health care industry’s slow move towards Patient-Centered Health Reform which to me does just what Dorfman is referring to, puts the task of caring for patients at the center. When the overall health care industry truly places the quality and care of the consumer at the center then it’s own individual and group needs and wants will not seem so important and the country will be the better for it. Just my thoughts.
Yours in Good Health
Read the article (it’s short):
Consumer Power April 1, 2008
I see a significant glimmer of hope in the calls for change in our health care system, first the release of the first ever hospital patient care survey on Friday and today the announcement of a national agreement with leading physician groups and the health insurers groups. They agreed upon the principles that will guide how health plans measure physician performance and report information to consumers. The organizations basically agreed to rank physicians on the basis of both the cost and quality of care they provide to patients. Why did it take so long to reach something that is seemly basic and exhibits some common sense? I think it has to do with a term that you will hear a lot in the next several years, Patient-Centered Health Reform. The health care industry is finally steering itself toward placing the health care consumer at the center, not the profits of health insurance companies or physician income but consumer health.
Yours in Good Health
http://healthcaredisclosure.org/docs/files/PatientCharterDisclosureRelease040108.pdf
