via online.wsj.com
The latest book exposing the healthcare system and how broken it is from Dr Makary a surgeon from Johns Hopkins. As he says
Meet 'Shrek,' a doctor who insists on surgery in every case—and has a surgical-incision infection rate of 20%.
and more troubling
He quotes a recent Hopkins survey of employees of 60 high-quality hospitals, where more than half of the respondents said they would not feel comfortable receiving care in the unit in which they work
He makes the case for flat rate payment that removes the incentive for steering care to individual specialties devoid of any decision making that is for the benefit of the patient.
Take pancreatic cancer, half of Dr. Makary's practice at Hopkins. With only a 15% cure rate, surgery is the only hope. But if the cancer is inoperable, patients may be offered chemo and radiation, which confer minimal benefit and yet make money for doctors and hospitals
There are detractors to this and without incentive there is a corresponding decline in efficiency so finding a balance between these two competing ideals seems necessary
Looks like another book to add to the reading list
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