American Healthcare Solutions, LLC.

This article describes both the nature of the work performed by patient caregivers and the nature of the work performed by healthcare executives. The work culture of a healthcare executive is counter-intuitive to a patient caregiver. Mr. Jennings stresses the importance of healthcare executives frequently expressing their appreciation to physicians, nurses, and staff members in order to diffuse the tension between patient caregivers and healthcare executives.

• Healthcare Executives Are From Mars, Patient Caregivers Are Grom Venus: A New Understanding Is Neede

Two provisions of the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit bill are so egregious it is hard to believe that the American people will not sooner or later take action and strike back at the ballot box. The pharmaceutical companies were provided two extraordinary concessions; i.e., we cannot import lower priced prescription drugs (unlike almost every other commodity importation policy), and the Medicare program will not be allowed to use its purchasing clout to drive down the cost of medications. This bill will hurt the American taxpayer, hurt individual consumers and compromise the fundamental values of the American economy.

• Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit: We Now Have the Best Government Money Can Buy

Eventually, the economic forces surrounding the financing and delivery of healthcare will provoke comprehensive reform. The great fear is that healthcare reform will lead to socialized medicine. Mr. Jennings outlines one proposal as an example of reform that will meet the expectations of the American people and avoid a big government program. If we are to have a healthcare delivery system in the future that we want and can afford, we need to be planning for that desired future state now.

• An Outline For Healthcare Reform

In the absence of reform, the rate of growth in healthcare costs today will seem small compared to the rate of growth in coming years because the number of people seeking healthcare services is going to take off like a rocket and the healthcare industry will proliferate available patient services. Healthcare reform is likely to emerge from a political pragmatism. We simply can no longer afford to continue climbing the slippery slope of rising healthcare costs.

• Healthcare Reform: Watch For New and Unlikely Sponsors

We are currently the only industrialized nation without a coherent national strategy for the distribution of medical and hospital programs and services and a related and coherent financing scheme. The private sector has filled the void with hospitals and health systems now competing on a par with car dealers, banks, fast food restaurants and shoe stores. Competition works when the purchaser can make a pre-meditated and data driven determination at the point of purchase and is financially responsible for the consequences of that decision – which is certainly not the case in healthcare. Despite the increase in competition, payments to hospitals and health systems in Western Pennsylvania are the third highest in the country.

• Competition in Healthcare: Are We Sure This is Good For Western Pennsylvania?

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