Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog: Deming, lean thinking, innovation, customer focus, continual improvement, six sigma.
June 16, 2006
Health Care Crisis

Probe finds nation’s emergency care system at ‘breaking point’ (the San Jose Mercury News broke the link so I removed it - poor usabilty on their part) by Lauran Neegaard:

It’s a sobering symptom of how the nation’s emergency-care system is overcrowded and overwhelmed, “at its breaking point,” concludes an investigation by the Institute of Medicine.

The spate of similar articles reminded me of the recent post by Mark Graban: Stop calling it “ER Congestion”. He states: “It’s not an ER problem, it’s a systemic hospital problem.” I agree. The health care system is broken and has been for a long time. Symptoms like the huge cost of health care, medical errors, ER problems etc. are all related.

From the original article:

“It is the only medical care to which Americans have a legal right,” noted Kellerman, adding that what constitutes an emergency is different to a doctor than to a desperate patient. Last week, he treated a woman who wound up in the ER after running out of some crucial medication and being turned away by four different clinics.

Most of the news stories touch on the systemic nature of the problems with such statements. So it is not that people are unaware of that truth but the importance of a systemic fix seems minimized.

What we need more of:

And less of:

2 Responses to “Health Care Crisis”

  1. Curious Cat Management Improvement Blog » Blog Archive » Universal Health Care in San Francisco Says:

    [...] This needs to be approved by the city council to go into effect. It is far from perfect but the health care system is broken and we need actual innovation to find workable solutions. The effects of the health care system on the economy are huge. Health care costs are a huge part of both losing jobs to other countries and eroding pay rates. [...]

  2. In-house Health Clinics Says:

    [...] Today a new wave of clinics is opening, driven largely by a motive that was less of a factor in the past: employers’ desires to reduce their health insurance premiums by taking care of workers before they need to see outside doctors. [...]

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