Are We Fixing or Destroying Health Care in America?

The short answer…..”who knows yet”?   I don’t.   Having led provider groups, health plans, and hospitals over nearly 30 years in healthcare management, I would have hoped that I could have answered that question definitively by now.  Apparently, to add to my education, about 6 months ago I encountered the system as a patient for a very serious tumor condition. 

So far post surgical care has gone well and the MRIs have remained clear.  However, being on the getting-billed and getting-EOBs side of healthcare has been an interesting and frustrating experience.  I had never sat in that role before.  And of course I have the experience of running provider side and insurer business, so it is interesting to assess how complicated the billing and EOB side must be for the average consumer without such experience.

Thus, as I share perspectives on healthcare in this country as we encounter Exchanges, and ACOs, and other ventures I will try to do so from two perspectives: that being as a patient in the system, and also that of a person with experience in operating healthcare organizations. 

One easy question.  From a clinical standpoint would I have wanted to be in any other country for the care I needed?  NO WAY.