I don’t much care for sports analogies but today I can’t help myself.
- The US health care system is like the New York Yankees: spending more money than anyone else, under-performing its peers that spend less than half of what it spends, and constantly looking to reform itself with expensive new programs.
- The ideal system would be like the New England Patriots: achieving unprecedented superiority (the headline after yesterday’s 52-7 victory over the Redskins: “Washington slapped here“) despite spending roughly the same amount as everyone else thanks to the salary cap, emphasizing teamwork over individual performance, and constantly innovating. It helps to have a Wesleyan grad at the helm.
We’ll never get to the ideal state in health care, but I’d be more than satisfied with something like the 2007 Boston Red Sox: spending the second most of any team and achieving the best results.
Well, we can dream.
October 29, 2007
Not related to this, but please check out Grand Rounds today at http://runningahospital.blogspot.com/2007/10/grand-rounds-volume-4-number-6.html. Some moving and insightful stories about experiences in hospitals. Thanks.
Well said. What many people have yet to understand is that thowing money at a problem is *not* the way to fix a problem. This is seen in health care, education, etc.