A must read article from the New Yorker. I love analogies. In this one the author examines the mess that was agriculture 100 years ago here in the U.S. 40% of a family's income went to food:
America’s agricultural crisis gave rise to deep national frustration. The inefficiency of farms meant low crop yields, high prices, limited choice, and uneven quality. The agricultural system was fragmented and disorganized, and ignored evidence showing how things could be done better.
Sound familiar? The government tried many things, but what proved most effective was working from the bottom up. They worked with the farmers, and when they saw success, they told their neighbors. Seaman Knapp from the USDA said: “What a man hears he may doubt, what he sees he may possibly doubt, but what he does himself he cannot doubt.”
This is what we're doing with our new company ProtoHIT. It's not enough that we have best practices based on 12,000 cases, each clinic needs to see for themselves how it is working for them. In real time. And that is how we all will get efficient in health care.
Efficient AND effective. ;-)
Posted by: Mary Schmidt | 07 January 2010 at 11:08 AM