Our Fragmented Health Care System: Causes and Solutions
Why is our health care system so fragmented in the care it gives patients? Why is this so even within a single hospital, where errors or miscommunications often seem to result from poor coordination among the myriad of professionals treating any one individual patient? The conference aims to address this broad question with a highly interdisciplinary approach. Among the specific issues we will cover from various disciplinary perspectives are the following:
Legal and Regulatory. Is the law part of the problem, by mandating a hospital structure that makes medical staff too independent of centralized administration, by imposing payment systems that separate out payments to hospitals, surgeons and other doctors, or in some other way? Could the law be part of the solution through regulations or damage actions designed to induce more optimal organization?
Medical and Scientific. Are there sound medical or scientific reasons for the current level of fragmentation or is some of it medically inappropriate or scientifically unwarranted? Are there medical or technological solutions that hospitals or doctors could adopt within the current system to ameliorate problems caused by fragmentation?
Business. Are there sensible business reasons for the current form of hospital organization or do organizational lessons from other industries make clear the current form is inefficient and poorly designed to produce patient satisfaction? Are there business reorganizations that could improve hospital organization?
Economics. Does economics indicate that fragmentation tracks incentives to reward bringing in patients and treating them in a way that is perverse or socially desirable? If there are problems, can we devise better incentive structures that would naturally lead hospitals to eliminate bad forms of fragmentation?
