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Health Care Reform Now!: A Prescription for Change
 
 
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Health Care Reform Now!: A Prescription for Change (Hardcover)

by George C. Halvorson (Author)
Key Phrases: obesity trends, care sales tax, health care reform possible, Six Sigma, United States, Basic Steps (more...)
3.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
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Frequently Bought Together

Health Care Reform Now!: A Prescription for Change + Epidemic of Care: A Call for Safer, Better, and More Accountable Health Care + Health Care Will Not Reform Itself: A User's Guide to Refocusing and Reforming American Health Care
Price For All Three: $71.82

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Editorial Reviews

Review
"He sets out one possible direction for health care reform." (BookNews, Feb 2008)

"…rich in insights and suggestions that make them compelling reading for anyone seriously concerned about U.S. Health Reform." (Health Affairs, Jan/Feb, 2008)

"This is a very readable book on the current status of reform possibilities facing the US health care system." (JAMA, Feb 2008)

"A management guru, Halvorson shows how the same principles Wal-Mart and Target use to lower consumer costs can be applied to health care." (www.outrageoustimes.com, 09/12/2007)

A management guru, Halvorson shows how the same principles Wal-Mart and Target use to lower consumer costs can be applied to health care. He shows how the same devotion to quality that Toyota and Boeing use to reach 99% error-free manufacturing can bring us nearly error-free medicine. And he proves beyond doubt that the savings resulting from a uniform (and universal) medical database will more than pay for the cost of providing basic medical care to every single American. -- Outrageous Times: A Monthly Publication Dedicated to Health Care Reform, September 9, 2007

Review
"George Halvorson convincingly argues that the United States finally has what it needs to make universal coverage a reality and lays out a plan to get us there. It should be required reading on Capitol Hill."
—Congressman Pete Stark (D-CA),chairman, Ways and Means Health Subcommittee

"George Halvorson's timing couldn’t be better. This is a book that everyone who is searching for solutions should read."
—Helen Darling, president, National Business Group on Health

"Halvorson's comprehensive approach, rooted in a practical understanding of the complexities of American health care, helps us focus on what matters."
—Ian Morrison, Ph.D., healthcare futurist and author, Healthcare in the New Millennium

"This book is powerful and compelling.  It's just the right book for this time."
—Jeffrey C. McGuiness, president, HR Policy Association

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details
Inside This Book (learn more)
Key Phrases - Statistically Improbable Phrases (SIPs): (learn more)
obesity trends, care sales tax, health care reform possible, linkage deficiencies, payer databases, chronic care patients, new market model, health care reform agenda, asthma crisis, infrastructure vendor, safety net hospitals, chronic disease patients, care linkages, billable event, health care sales, health care marketplace, data deficit, paper medical record, personal health record, eight developments, payment approach, individual mandate, health care infrastructure, best caregivers
Key Phrases - Capitalized Phrases (CAPs): (learn more)
Six Sigma, United States, Basic Steps, New Idea, The Infrastructure Vendor, Kaiser Permanente, Few Hard, Useful Truths, Health Affairs, Reform Our Health Care Infrastructure, Whom Should We Hire, Mayo Clinic, African American, Best Buy, The Institute of Medicine, National Health Service, John Wennberg, Cleveland Clinic, Intermountain Healthcare, Cost Shift Realities, Day One, American Journal of Public Health, Prevalence of Obesity, Asthma Care
Browse Sample Pages:
Front Cover | Front Flap | Table of Contents | First Pages | Index | Back Flap | Back Cover | Surprise Me!
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Health Care Reform Now!: A Prescription for Change
76% buy the item featured on this page:
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Health Care Will Not Reform Itself: A User's Guide to Refocusing and Reforming American Health Care 4.0 out of 5 stars (4)
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Customer Reviews

9 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
3.6 out of 5 stars (9 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
13 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars One of the central arguments in this book is deeply flawed, October 12, 2007
By Heart Doc (Boston, MA) - See all my reviews
The chapter on chronic conditions is a very interesting read--as is the author's argument that we need to identify people with these conditions (based on better data) and intervene before their conditions progress to a higher cost state--chronic disease costs the health care system a fortune. The problem with this chapter (and a central argument in this book) is that it has already proven to be unworkable and untrue. The Congressional Budget Office analyzed the watershed of literature on disease management and concluded it does not lead to savings. The interventions the author speaks of are often not successful, nor cost saving. Indeed, if the argument were true, the own author's health plan--which rigorously practices case management and disease management--would have already seen the cost savings. The fact that the health plan's costs (and premiums) are no lower--and in some cases are higher--than the industry average is a strong counterargument. Moreover, the author himself--a self acknowledged heart attack patient is yet another example of why early interventions for chronic disease patients are often not successful. An overweight patient with high cholesterol can visit his physician--who may prescribe diet, exercise and cholesterol medication...but then, it in the patient's hands to follow doctors order and modify his or her lifestyle accordingly. Many do not. How to not only encourage--but ensure--high risk patients purse lifestyles that include healthy eating and active living may be the central challenge facing medicine--and our county--today.
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4 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars A Good, but Flawed Start, March 7, 2008
By Elderbear (Loma Linda, Aztlan) - See all my reviews
(TOP 1000 REVIEWER)   
Halvorson has initiated a public conversation about health care in the United States. Halvorson postulates that adequate healthcare can be provided to everybody without increasing the cost of care. He would take advantage of the following:

* A small minority of the health care consumers use the major portion of health care dollars. The bulk of this is attributed to chronic illness that goes untreated until it becomes an acute (and expensive) crisis.

* The multi-provider model of health care currently in the market is extremely inefficient, especially when coupled with paper medical records.

* Cost shifting as the uninsured present to hospitals or emergency departments where they cannot be turned away. This is the most expensive care possible. These costs are shifted to private insurers.

Halvorson designs the idea of an IV or Infrastructure Vendor. The IVs will create medical record systems allowing individual providers access to all the information they need for a patient's total care. Reminders for tests and treatments for chronic illness will come up.

Halvorson sees that one primary problem with the American health care system is a badly incented market. Financial incentives exist for treating illness, not for securing health. His solution is to capitate payments for chronic illness so that the providers have more incentive to keep their patients healthy.

Finally, Halvorson would require health coverage for everybody so that no cost-shifting occurs. Halvorson embraces the "six sigma" concept for health care providers adhering to best practices and evidence based medicine.

Halvorson's reliance on medical information systems to help solve health problems is wishful thinking. The system deployed by Kaiser has been described as implemented in a way that fails to fulfill the requirements that Halvorson raises. One employee told me that she could order a vasectomy on a woman without raising any errors or flags.

Another problem is Halvorson's failure to address the roles of line workers. While he cheers for 6-sigma, he ignores the wisdom of Total Quality Management or other programs designed to allow worker input to help solve system problems. Again, this is a complaint of Kaiser employees who have some influence in corporate processes, but are mostly ignored when it's time for the big decision.

Still, Halvorson has good ideas, which ought not to be totally discounted. Providing preventative health care for chronic conditions CAN drastically lower care costs. Kaiser is one of the few insurance systems that provides full chemical dependency care at no extra charge, thus saving the costs of liver transplants, heart failure, pancreatitis, and other drug and alcohol related problems.

Think of this book as a conversation starter ... a point of starting a national dialog to move national health care forward.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Practical Guide to Health Care Reform, July 5, 2008
By John D. Damore (Houston, TX) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
George Halverson does an exceptional job at laying out the major issues facing the United States health care sector and systematically making practical suggestions for reform. Having been on the inside of Kaiser in California, Halverson has an in-depth knowledge of the complex interplay between physicians, payers, patients, providers, hospitals and the government. Four of his most powerful messages are how to harvest existing personal health records, the need to focus on chronic disease, how to create intermediary agents that pursue high quality and efficient care, and the fundamental necessity of universal health care coverage. Although that last reform is left-leaning, the author's perspective is balanced and he supports reforms to make health care markets work and reduce unnecessary administrative waste. One of his most resounding messages is that we get what we pay for in health care; currently we have over 9,000 billing codes for treating disease and not a single way to bill for a cure or maintaining wellness.

As a health care professional for the past six years, I highly endorse this book to both novices and experts alike. The challenges that await health care reform are large and complex, but it is the articulate and well-though advice of veterans like George Halverson that will make long-term advancement possible.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 stars Healthcare Reform Now!
Very informational, excellent vision and resolution thinking.
Certainly the Six Sigma process can be extremely beneficial. Read more
Published 18 days ago by Alicia Trigo

5.0 out of 5 stars Comprehensive view of opportunities for change.
This is an excellent view at a most interesting time in our history. While some may not follow the level of detail, anyone who has experience within the healthcare arena... Read more
Published 17 months ago by Bob Clarke

5.0 out of 5 stars Book review : Health Care Reform Now by B. Halvorson
Exceptionally well written book with excellent, easy to understand, and timely problem definition. Obvious the author has significant experience, knowledge, and understanding of... Read more
Published 20 months ago by Dusan D. Ecimovic

2.0 out of 5 stars Disappointed to Find Few Interesting New Ideas in this Book
I wanted to read this book to learn more about Kaiser's electronic medical records system. I had read about Kaiser's HealthConnect project to convert paper files to an electronic... Read more
Published 21 months ago by Avid Reader

5.0 out of 5 stars George Halvorson is right on targer for health care reform
George Halvorson has "walked the walk" with health care in America. He was CEO of Health Partners in Minneapolis and is now CEO of the entire Kaiser Health system. Read more
Published 22 months ago by Joseph E. Scherger

1.0 out of 5 stars A Poor Alternative to Redefining Health Care by Michael Porter
As a former Senate staffer working toward my PhD in health care policy, I looked forward to reading a book on health reform written by the CEO of one of the largest health plans... Read more
Published 23 months ago by Book Maven

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