Sick Are we ? -2 , More of the “Business of Medicine”

Sick Are we ?  2  More “Business of Medicine”

    A few years ago I wrote an article for a local paper while I was still working at a Hospital in a small town in Arizona. The issue at hand was the building of a second Hospital in the town. The existing Hospital was a County controlled “Not For Profit” facility, part of the motivation [at lest publicly] for building the new Hospital was to provide expanded and improved care for the large rural area we lived in.
    The article I wrote was entitled “Can we afford to be Well”  My conclusion was NO,  Not and have what we want when we want it.
Medical care like any other “Business” is consumer driven , You can, almost, get what you want. While many businesses are built on the theory that “If you build it they will come” in reality this is not the case. Empty strip malls and restaurant buildings across the nation testify to that. The empty factory and manufacturing facilities are vacant because their owners have discovered that goods they produced can be manufactured cheaper elsewhere or they have been unable to keep up with technological advances.
    The Medical profession bases it training model and it’s R and D on what people want. The post WW II era brought with it a new desire and a newly designed American Dream. Until that time Medical practitioners were task primarily with saving lives, this is still the ultimate goal, I have a Son and Daughter-in-Law who are both active and aggressive Paramedics and both have advanced training in Trauma and Cardiac life support. I my self spent many hours working in Emergency Rooms with the goal of providing acute life saving care.
        The post WW II era brought with it a consumer demand for a longer life in which to enjoy the American Dream. The Health Care industry heard the call and Medical School Deans their Boards and the owners of pharmaceutical and medical equipment companies world wide responded. Millions of dollars and many newly educated brains began to work on new ways to give us more years. The space race brought amazing new technology with associated benefits in all aspects of American life. The Viet Nam War, as damaging as it was for our country demonstrated our ability to save lives which just a few years before would have been lost. The awesome abilities of emergency room physicians and trauma surgeons is directly related to the lessons learned in Viet Nam. [That is a collateral effect which is acceptable].
    In the almost thirty years I have been involved in the Health Care business, I have both been a part of, and witnessed amazing advances in medical care. People live much longer now than ever before. This country provides the most advanced medical care possible.
    Several years ago, and almost no one I know in this business can tell you exactly when the public's demand shifted again.
    We went from SAVE US to LET US LIVE LONG to LET US LIVE WELL. Most of us in the health care industry agree that this is the best for everyone. We like to help provide quality of life. For many years , people in this industry have discussed in public and private our thoughts and concerns for patients and families who find it difficult, If not impossible to consider quality of life over quantity of life.
    This has either already become an issue for us personally or will be something you will deal with in the future. The philosophical and technological shift has contributed to the increased cost of health care in this country, Medicine like any other “Big” entity is slow to move and it is expensive to move so many minds and established institutions.
    The care available is “Consumer Driven” just like any other industry.
We want safer and more economical Automobiles- They cost more.
Better and faster Computers and hand held communication devices-They cost more. The same is true in this business.

In part three we will look at ways to control costs at any cost !