Nov
12
Masters in Medical Management Graduates
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Most of us made it to graduation!
MMM, USC Class of 2009
Nov
4
Tribal Leadership
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Logan, D., King, J., Fischer-Wright, H., Tribal Leadership, Leveraging Natural Groups to Build a Thriving Organization, New York: Harper Collins Publishing, 2008. I learned of teh work of Dave Logan and his colleagues through courses provided by him and Fischer-Wright. Dave is an electric presenter, and both his book and lectures provide a crystaline insight into the psycho-social basis of group behavior. The case is made for corporate environments, but the information he shares also reflects groups of all type. I believe the message awakens a consideration of the employer/employee relatinoship and casts light on the responsibility inferred by the power of the employer and the obligation to create a work environment that helps encourage teh development of the individual.
Nov
4
Trend Analysis
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Introduction: The following are general trends affecting the health care market in general.
Trend #1: Physician staffing shortage: A combination of economic forces is now colliding within the US healthcare market that will drive fundamental shifts in health care delivery systems. There has recently become a majority of physicians in medical school who are female. In studies of work force trends as relates to gender, it has been described that 75% of women 5 years out of residency will not be practicing full time. In addition women are less likely to commit to jobs that require call or extraordinary work practices that have been hallmarks of the medical system within the US. In fact there is a growing trend of graduating physicians to expect more humane and manageable work requirements in both men and women. In spite of these forces, our educational and training system for physicians is fundamentally limited in its ability to produce qualified physicians due to limits on residency slots and the costs of medical education.
There is also a rapidly growing demand for medical services which is driven by a rapidly aging population. This has been well documented and is due to an ever increasing life expectancy, and with longer life comes more accumulated disease burden for the individual. This is exacerbated by an uneven population trend which corresponds to the baby boomer generated
An seemingly endless array of medical options are also being created by a very competent medical services creation systems (pharmaceutical, genetic, procedural etc.) combined with the above economic and practical forces results in a profound and of yet under appreciated staffing crisis that is now being felt in programs for the underserved but will soon affect the health care industry in general.
Trend #2: Electronic Health Records: For the entirety of my career, there has been the promise of an electronic health record that would reduce costs by reducing unnecessary duplication of tests, and improve quality of care by rendering health records legible.
These promises and more are finally becoming reality. Currently there are several vendors who offer software products that can somewhat efficiently accommodate the demands of documentation and the manipulation of information required. There are still several years of work ahead before the electronic health record actually assists in encouraging appropriate decisions but the promise is now easily identifiable.
Trend #3: Industry focus on outcomes measures: The health care industry is now creating incentives programs and grading systems for measuring those direct indicators of adequacy of health care. Examples of this include the use of Angiotensin Converting Enzyme Inhibitors for Congestive Heart Failure or Hemoglobin A1c’s for diabetics to name just two chronic diseases and key indicators. The number and degree of sophistication of these measures is truly impressive when examined industry wide.
These measures are rapidly becoming bench marks for assessing medical systems in both consumers and insurers. The managemtn of the large number of measures for acute and chronic disease makes an electronic health care record inevitable. Through the use of these measures medical care systems will become better delivers of care or likely will become obsolete.
Trend #4: Informational plurality and increasing level of education of patients: the internet is now becoming a major source of information for patients. Patients now tend to be more informed, and at times are more informed than their health care provider in their specific concerns. Information is no longer the exclusive privilege of the professional.
Trend #5: Rapidly escalating health care costs as depicted as a percentage of Gross Domestic Product. There is generally agreed a limit to the percentage of GDP that can be spent on health care; as that limit is examined there will be an increasing economic mandate to prove that the desired effect of improved health care for the population is being realized
Trend #6: A growing national conversation about universal health care: If universal coverage is actually realized there will be a shift in focus to health care maintenance. Currently our system of paying for health care favors ignoring the added costs of ignoring significant health care concerns. The fail safe services of the emergency rooms, and the largely non-emergent care provided underscores the illogical nature of a non-universal system.