Who Killed Health Care? by Regina Herzlinger

American Health Care: I'll be sharing the titles, descriptions and Tables of Contents of all the books written in the last decade or so on Health Care in America. No one denies that it doesn't work as well as it should, but the various political parties - and radio talk show hosts - are divided in how to fix the problem.

Who Killed Health Care?: America's $2 Trillion Medical Problem-and The Consumer-Driven Cure by Regina Herzlinger
McGraw-Hill, 2007
258 pages plus notes,and index. No photos
Library: 362.1 HER

Description
One of the nation's most respected health care analysts, Regina Herzlinger exposes the motives and methods of those who have crippled America's health care system-figures in the insurance, hospital, employment, government and academic sectors. She proves how our current system, which is organized around payers and providers rather than the needs of its users, is dangerously eroding patient welfare and is pushing costs out of the reach of millions.

Who Killed Health Care? then outlines Herzlinger's bold new plan for a consumer-driven system that will deliver affordable, high-quality care to everyone. By putting insurance money in the hands of patients, removing the middleman in the doctor-patient rellationship, and giving employers cost relief, consumers and physicians will be empowered to make the system work the way it should.

Herzlinger describes in precise detail how her innovative program will provide:

-Smaller, disease focused medical facilities that provide complete care for patients
-A national system of medical records that provides privacy with confidential access by approved practitioners
-Mandatory performance evaluations of all hospitals and all other medical organizations
-Mandatory health insurance with subsidies for those who cannot afford it.

Who Killed Health Care? is a call to arms that must be answered; the welfare of every American hangs in the balance.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgments
Introduction
Part 1: Who Killed Health CAre?
1. The Day Health Care Died

Part 2: Death By a Thousand Cuts
2. Killer Number 1: The Health Insurers (Death at the hands of a dysfunctional culture)
3. Killer Number 2: The General Hospitals (Death at the Hands of Empire Builders)
4. Killer Number 3: The Employers (Death at the Hands of a "Choice" of One)
5. Killer Number 4: The US Congress (Death at the Hands of those Elected to Represent Us)
6. Killer Number 5: The Academics (Death at the Hands of the Elite Policy Makers)

Part 3: The Right Medicine - Consumer-Driven Health Care
7. Hoe it Works
8. Consumer-driven benefits:Lessons from other countries and industries

Part 4: How to Make it Happen: The Carrots, The Sticks, the Laws
9. The Carrots (Let medical business entrepreneurialism bloom)
10. The Sticks (Let information flow)
11. A bold new consumer-driven health care system (The laws and their legislators)
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In the interests of Order and Method: My Schedule of Regular Posts:
*Monday through Friday morning - schedules of President, VP and Secretary of State and her diplomats
*Monday through Friday afternoon - List of topics Limbaugh discussed on his program that day
*Monday through Friday througout the day - My posts on anything that I feel like talking about. At least one or two a day, sometimes more.
*Saturday through Sunday morning - An addition to my booklist of political books - covering Democrats, Republicans and other interested parties.