Healthcare Model

Let's talk some more about health care. I am on record as saying that the administration plan to dismantle and remake the best health care system in the world is an ill-conceived proposition. My view is that we need to re-work what we have to make it more affordable, fair and efficient. And I believe that the government's track record in managing what is already under their control is a pretty sad testimony. There are Conservative options out there, but the Democrats in power, with their blinders on, are having none of it. So, we have an 1100 page bill under consideration, full of really scary fine print, that probably won't be fully dissected before Congress gets to vote on it. Even if a compromise is reached by the committees that are working on it, the resulting bill will be much less than a good one. They need to completely scrap the darned thing and start from scratch.

I watched Greta Van Susteren the other night. She devoted a good portion of her show to a tour of the Cleveland Clinic, a very large, well-run hospital. As Greta said, maybe such a tour would be a good start for our legislators who aspire to provide us Americans with a state-of-the-art health care system. Here are some of the highlights.

The doctors are on salary there and are part of the hospital staff.I imagine they are paid pretty well, so getting rich wouldn't be something they have to worry about. Advantages would be a set work schedule and being incorporated into the hospital's administrative services. According to the CEO, the doctors enjoy being part of a team that works together to deliver the best results. The other employees are encouraged to contribute ideas to make their output more efficient. The CEO said they are self-insured, so they do all they can to make sure the 6000 employees have a healthy lifestyle. With company encouragement to lose weight, the employees lost 40,000 pounds over a given amount of time. (I think that figure is right.) In the cafeteria, only healthy foods are offered, with nutrition labels posted for every item. According to their statistics, obesity shortens the average (obese) person's life by twenty years. Roughly 70% of the total health care costs go to treating patients with lifestyle problems, such as overeating, smoking, drinking, lack of exercise, etc. You can see why it is important to emphasize healthy living as a vital part of one's total health care treatment. The hospital has a first-class gym, with basketball courts and exercise machines that are available to anyone who works in the hospital.

In other areas, the hospital has a high tech setup to handle receiving and storage of all their supplies.. In some instances, robot carriers deliver supplies to specified locations. One large problem remains and is in the process of being solved. The records are still mainly in paper form, with work ongoing to transfer them to an electronic format. The CEO showed us the store room where the records are kept. I imagine the records we saw would easily fill a boxcar. And these were only the active files.

My point with all this dissertation is that here is a well-run hospital that is delivering high quality care, is profitable, is efficient, and is providing an appealing workplace for its employees. Our legislators should make a trip to this hospital with their notebooks and take the same tour that Greta took. Wouldn't it make sense to base your program on something that is proven to work, rather than on the pipe dream of a group of neophytes?