by joeflower | Nov 1, 2016 | Commentary, Future Hospital Industry, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare Management, Systems Thinking, Uncategorized, Volume to Value
Healthcare costs too much, and we don’t get enough of the healthcare that we need. This is our core problem in one word: “productivity.” The obvious difficulties of healthcare in the U.S., where we can’t seem to take care of everyone, millions are saddled with...
by joeflower | Oct 6, 2016 | Commentary, Featured, Future Hospital Industry, Healthcare 2.0, New Healthcare Technology
What It is: You’ve heard of bitcoin, that magical digital money not attached to any national economy or banking system? Blockchain is the technology behind it. It’s a clever extension of existing encryption techniques that enables trusted, secure transactions of any...
by joeflower | Aug 18, 2016 | Commentary, Future Hospital Industry, New Healthcare Technology
What it is: A tiny encapsulated bit of circuitry, with sensors and a chip, that can be inserted into your brain (or actually, anywhere in your body), to check out the local conditions and report back. Here’s the actual paper in Cell from the UC Berkeley scientists and...
by joeflower | Jul 20, 2016 | Commentary, Future Hospital Industry, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare Management, Healthcare Workforce, Volume to Value
How will healthcare be distributed in the future? In ways that bear only some resemblance to the way it is distributed today. The changes will be driven by the new economics of healthcare embedded in the “volume to value” movement, based as it is on...
by joeflower | Jul 20, 2016 | Commentary, Future Hospital Industry, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare Management, Healthcare Workforce, Uncategorized, Volume to Value
The double doors to the ambulance bay slide open, and one more patient on a gurney is hauled across the threshold of your Emergency Department. This one’s in diabetic shock. Stop the picture right there and ask yourself: Is this a medical success, because you can do...
by joeflower | Jun 9, 2016 | Commentary, Healthcare Economics, Healthcare Policy, Healthcare Reform, Universal Healthcare
The answer: Never. Here’s why. The question came over steak and a seafood tower. The steak was $51, if memory serves. A really good steak. The wine was an excellent Napa Valley red blend. We ate in a private room in a restaurant overlooking the Chicago River....