Healthcare in America is ill. Moreover, the bill for this illness is rising and America cannot afford the price! What worsens the situation is error in diagnosis of what is the illness. Attempting to cure without a proper diagnosis, politicians and pundits impose regulations in the name of increasing high value medical care. Forgotten in the discussion are the patient and the doctor caring for that patient. The doctor-patient relationship not only provides the point of medical care but also defines quality of that care. Now economics and regulations are changing that relationship, thus altering the American health system.
Saving the American health care system requires restoring centrality of the doctor-patient relationship. To rescue the doctor-patient relationship only occurs by understanding how payment systems, economics, and regulations affect that relationship. This book examines how the doctor-patient relationship has been affected by developments in economics and regulations, then offers solutions to rescue that relationship and restore patient-centric decision-making.
