From Chaos To Care: The Promise Of Team-based Medicine [Hardcover]

David Lawrence M.D. (Author), David Lawrence (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 15, 2002

Dr. David Lawrence has had a long and distinguished career in medicine, crowned by his current role as CEO and Chairman of Kaiser Permanente, the largest non-profit healthcare system in the world and the leader in integrated medical care. A sophisticated, team-based approach that draws on the strengths of the healthcare organization as well as on community resources, integrated care is a most cost-efficient healthcare business model. It also gives patients that all-important sense of control over their conditions and provides the kind of care they can navigate and trust: personal, safe, cohesive, and effective.In From Chaos to Care, Dr. Lawrence shares his unique medical and leadership perspective, outlining a blueprint for lasting and healthy change for the business of health care. Rich with stories of the ways in which integrated, team-based care succeeds on both the human and organizational fronts, this book is an urgent manifesto for the implementation of high-quality and cost-effective health care for all. For doctors and insurers, specialists and healthcare administrators alike, From Chaos to Care illuminates the path to the future of American medical care.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Written by the former CEO of the nonprofit health-care organization Kaiser Permanente, this book makes the case for a humane version of managed care that operates under a collaborative model. Lawrence describes how, despite the goodwill of medical practitioners, his terminally ill father suffered needlessly because the treatment he received under Medicare was not coordinated by a medical team. Lawrence also contrasts the care Rebecca (a fictional child with asthma) received when she was treated by her solo pediatrician (also fictional) with the more integrative and effective care provided after her family's insurance was changed to a health-care organization. Believing that the age of the individual practitioner is over, Lawrence emphasizes team-based delivery of medical services within managed care and argues for the necessity of making critical patient information easily available to doctors and care-providers. Collaborative care for chronic illnesses makes sense, he argues, since staff access to technology to facilitate referrals and decisions about treatment can be delivered under the umbrella of health organizations. He also identifies several HMOs that, according to him, are models of the team-based approach. However, his examples of corporate managers such as Jack Welch, former CEO at GE, as an inspiration to health-care organizations that are trying to hold down costs is ultimately unconvincing.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Imagine a team of medical professionals, including doctors, health educators, nurse practitioners, pharmacists, and therapists, that is interested in and knowledgeable about your personal medical history. These experts have access to the latest research and technology, as well as your complete medical and pharmacological history, and communicate regularly with one another and are open to your input to form a treatment plan. Sound too good to be true? Lawrence, a physician and the longtime CEO of the large, not-for-profit HMO Kaiser Permanente, contends that team-based medical care not only works well but can also provide better treatment than traditional single practitioners. Lawrence acknowledges that there are many challenges to achieving the goal of integrated, team-based care, but he offers numerous real-life examples of organizations heading in this direction. Although the lack of bibliographical references may frustrate the scholar, this brief but persuasive book is highly recommended for public libraries and health science collections.
Tina Neville, Univ. of South Florida at St. Petersburg Lib.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Da Capo Press; 1ST edition (October 15, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0738207535
• ISBN-13: 978-0738207537
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 6.2 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,521,175 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Many minds make good patient care, April 10, 2007

By 

Thomas H. Pike "Tom Pike" - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: From Chaos To Care: The Promise Of Team-based Medicine (Paperback)

This is an excellent book on the state of the healthcare system and provides significant recommendations to enhance the results of patient care. The author referring to medicine states, "It conducts its business with systems so archaic and incentives so perverse that the nation's education system looks almost rational by comparison." Doctor Lawrence has a well structured approach to address the issues based on collaboration of the medical, nursing team, allied healthcare workers, administrative personnel, and tools to back them up. Something most would have thought would have been in place, but to those you know healthcare is seldom available. It is said, "many hands make for a light load" like wise, "many minds make good patient care."

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Measuring from chaos to care, September 14, 2004

By 

R. Peters - See all my reviews
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Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: From Chaos To Care: The Promise Of Team-based Medicine (Hardcover)

The author eloquently describes problems faced by patients seeking care in the current environment. It is a snapshot of the quality movement in healthcare. Like a work of art, what is also interesting is what is not there or the negative spaces. A very wise man once said 'if you can't measure it you can't control it'. The word measurement is sadly missing from the index and table of contents. Measurement is central to quality improvement. Clinical laboratories have been required to measure, analyze and track the quality of their work for over 30 years. Many clinical labs have used statistical process control charts, control materials, standards etc. for decades. However, they have not routinely sought to identify root causes and corrective actions. Perhaps there will be a sequel with numerous valid measures of healthcare quality, more detailed examples of six sigma and possibly other lessons from Deming and Juran.