Medical research, with its power to attract money and political support, and its promise of cures for a wide range of medical burdens, has good and bad sides--which are often indistinguishable. In this book, the author teases out the distinctions and differences, revealing the difficulties that result when the research imperative is suffused with excessive zeal, adulterated by the profit motive, or used to justify cutting moral corners. Exploring the National Institutes of Health's annual budget, the inflated estimates of health care cost savings that result from research, the high prices charged by drug companies, the use and misuse of human subjects for medical testing, and the controversies surrounding human cloning and stem cell research, he clarifies the fine line between doing good and doing harm in the name of medical progress. His work shows that medical research must be understood in light of other social and economic needs and how even the research imperative, dedic.
The idea that we have an unlimited moral imperative to pursue medical research is deeply rooted in American society and medicine. In this provocative work, Daniel Callahan exposes the ways in which such a seemingly high and humane ideal can be corrupted and distorted into a harmful practice. Medical research, with its power to attract money and political support, and its promise of cures for a wide range of medical burdens, has good and bad sides—which are often indistinguishable. In What Price Better Health?, Callahan teases out the distinctions and differences, revealing the difficulties that result when the research imperative is suffused with excessive zeal, adulterated by the profit motive, or used to justify cutting moral corners. Exploring the National Institutes of Health's annual budget, the inflated estimates of health care cost savings that result from research, the high prices charged by drug companies, the use and misuse of human subjects for medical testing, and the controversies surrounding human cloning and stem cell research, Callahan clarifies the fine line between doing good and doing harm in the name of medical progress. His work shows that medical research must be understood in light of other social and economic needs and how even the research imperative, dedicated to the highest human good, has its limits.
Cracking Health Costs reveals the best ways for companies and small businesses to fight back, right now, against rising health care costs. This book proposes multiple, practical steps that you can take to control costs and increase the effectiveness of the health benefit. The book is all about rolling back health care costs to save companies and employees money. Working hand-in-hand with their employees, businesses need to ensure that, whenever feasible, employees with the most expensive diagnoses get optimal treatment at hospitals not practicing “volume-driven” medicine for higher profits. Less than 10% of employees incur 80% of costs. About 20% of patients have been completely misdiagnosed, while many others are simply the victims of surgeons who are either practicing bad medicine or overtreating for profit. For example, some companies, such as Walmart and Lowe’s, are turning to the “Centers of Excellence” approach author Tom Emerick helped to pioneer while running benefits for Walmart. By determining which hospitals are adopting the highest standards of care, benefits managers can reduce the number of unnecessary high-cost surgeries and improve employees’ overall health. The solution-based approach offered by the book is unique, because it can be implemented by businesses today.
Inspired by his viral New York Times article, prize-winning investigative journalist Frank Lalli details how he mastered the ins and outs of health care—and how you, too, can get the best care for your money. Frank Lalli, the former editor of Money and George magazines, has devoted his career to getting to the bottom of a good story. When he was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a rare but potentially deadly blood cancer, he put his reporter’s instincts to work and got the wonder drug he needed at an affordable price—thousands of dollars less than he was told he would have to spend. Amazed by the complex and arbitrary nature of the health care system, he decided to share what he has learned as his own Health Care Detective so that others can find their best care and save money, too. Based on three years of research and more than 300 first-hand interviews with experts, Your Best Health Care Now is your easy-to-follow, real-world guide to making today’s health system work for you. You’ll learn all the smart moves and timely tips to get better care and save hundreds, if not thousands, of dollars—no matter what your concerns may be. Whether you’re trying to book a free check-up or negotiate with a surgeon, looking for an effective generic drug or the best price for a brand-name, or worrying about high insurance deductibles and rising premiums or a stack of surprise bills, Your Best Health Care Now has the answers you need to take charge of your wellbeing.
New York Times bestseller Business Book of the Year--Association of Business Journalists From the New York Times bestselling author comes an eye-opening, urgent look at America's broken health care system--and the people who are saving it--now with a new Afterword by the author. "A must-read for every American." --Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief, FORBES One in five Americans now has medical debt in collections and rising health care costs today threaten every small business in America. Dr. Makary, one of the nation's leading health care experts, travels across America and details why health care has become a bubble. Drawing from on-the-ground stories, his research, and his own experience, The Price We Pay paints a vivid picture of the business of medicine and its elusive money games in need of a serious shake-up. Dr. Makary shows how so much of health care spending goes to things that have nothing to do with health and what you can do about it. Dr. Makary challenges the medical establishment to remember medicine's noble heritage of caring for people when they are vulnerable. The Price We Pay offers a road map for everyday Americans and business leaders to get a better deal on their health care, and profiles the disruptors who are innovating medical care. The movement to restore medicine to its mission, Makary argues, is alive and well--a mission that can rebuild the public trust and save our country from the crushing cost of health care.
From the leading expert in herbal therapy, this indispensable guide is intended for both new and experienced users of herbs and other natural food supplements. Readers can consult this well-organized book either by medical problem or by herb.
GETTING A DOCTOR'S APPOINTMENT SHOULDN'T BE HARDER THAN BOOKING A VACATION The US healthcare system excels in research, innovation, and clinical care, but is failing to keep up with the operational challenges of the digital age. Today's healthcare organizations face immense financial challenges, and their most valuable resources--people, rooms, and equipment--are being used inefficiently. The result? Long wait times for patients, overstressed staff, underused assets, and poor ROI for organizations. Why do health systems struggle with optimization? The fundamental problem is one of matching an unpredictable demand for services with a constrained supply. The math being used to solve this problem is a holdover from the paper-and-pencil era. In Better Healthcare Through Math, authors Mohan Giridharadas and Sanjeev Agrawal show you that there is a better way. Healthcare systems can harness the power of sophisticated, analytics-driven mathematics to optimize the matching of supply and demand. By upgrading to software systems built on better math, they can enable staff to make data-based decisions to flatten peaks of demand and create smoother patient flow.
America's health care system has become too complex and costly to continue business as usual. Best Care at Lower Cost explains that inefficiencies, an overwhelming amount of data, and other economic and quality barriers hinder progress in improving health and threaten the nation's economic stability and global competitiveness. According to this report, the knowledge and tools exist to put the health system on the right course to achieve continuous improvement and better quality care at a lower cost. The costs of the system's current inefficiency underscore the urgent need for a systemwide transformation. About 30 percent of health spending in 2009-roughly $750 billion-was wasted on unnecessary services, excessive administrative costs, fraud, and other problems. Moreover, inefficiencies cause needless suffering. By one estimate, roughly 75,000 deaths might have been averted in 2005 if every state had delivered care at the quality level of the best performing state. This report states that the way health care providers currently train, practice, and learn new information cannot keep pace with the flood of research discoveries and technological advances. About 75 million Americans have more than one chronic condition, requiring coordination among multiple specialists and therapies, which can increase the potential for miscommunication, misdiagnosis, potentially conflicting interventions, and dangerous drug interactions. Best Care at Lower Cost emphasizes that a better use of data is a critical element of a continuously improving health system, such as mobile technologies and electronic health records that offer significant potential to capture and share health data better. In order for this to occur, the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, IT developers, and standard-setting organizations should ensure that these systems are robust and interoperable. Clinicians and care organizations should fully adopt these technologies, and patients should be encouraged to use tools, such as personal health information portals, to actively engage in their care. This book is a call to action that will guide health care providers; administrators; caregivers; policy makers; health professionals; federal, state, and local government agencies; private and public health organizations; and educational institutions.
Although the U.S. is one of the wealthiest nations in the world, we are far from being the healthiest, and consistently lag behind other developed nations in life expectancy and other population health measures. In fact, the country is suffering from chronic medical conditions, such as heart disease, obesity, and type 2 diabetes. These non-communicable diseases are largely the result of individual behaviors and lifestyle choices made in the context of a low physical activity, high calorie environment. In this publication, Dr. Michael Joyner and colleagues provide a roadmap to address the status quo by focusing on lifestyle factors that are best for healthspan (the period of life free of chronic diseases). Although the publication addresses the three primary causes of non-communicable chronic diseases - tobacco use, poor diet, and lack of proper physical activity, particular emphasis is placed on addressing physical inactivity. Numerous studies suggest that physical activity can compensate for other poor behaviors, yet about 50% of children and greater than 90% of adults and seniors do not meet the daily U.S. guidelines for physical activity. Something must be done to get the county back on track and improve the overall health of our population. The roadmap presented by Joyner and colleagues in this publication does just that. It is not only viable, but actionable today.
