Healthcare.com: Rx for Reform

Despite more than a decade of change, the U.S. health care delivery system is still in the early stages of its transformation into a truly effective, cost efficient and compassionate system. In Healthcare.com: RX for Reform, Dr. David Friend, trained in both medicine and business, delineates the symptoms of our ailing healthcare system and offers a vision for the future. Even with the enormous turmoil our health care system has undergone - from the proliferation managed care to the closing of hospitals - large numbers of people continue to receive sub-optimal care. The author discusses several symptoms including: increasing costs uncertain quality of care eroding trust in health care vendors increasing prospect of shareholder liability declining access to providers unclear impact on employee productivity It is time to discard the old, traditional way of thinking about healthcare and take a fresh look at its issues and challenges. To tackle these challenges we must strike a balance between the seemingly dissimilar disciplines of economics, medicine, technology, and politics. Dr. Friend proposes that we tear down the brick and mortar delivery model and replace it with a Virtual Health Care System. This new model changes the roles of everyone involved in the healthcare system, from the patient to the healthcare provider. It utilizes technology to redesign health care so that it can be delivered with higher quality and greater efficiency. Healthcare.com: RX for Reform examines the actions necessary for the evolution of our current system into a Virtual Health Care System. Features

David B. Friend, M.D., MBA, earned a bachelor's degree in economics from Brandeis University, a master's of business administration from The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and a medical doctorate degree from the University of Connecticut School of Medicine. He is a diplomate of the National Board of Medical Examiners and a licensed physician in the state of Massachusetts. He is also a member of the Board of the Institute for Health Policy at The Heller School of Brandeis University. Dr. Friend holds an appointment at Harvard Medical School's Brigham and Women's Hospital where he is a Visiting Scientist at the Innovation Center for Information Technology.