Noted Surgeon (& Author!) Atul Gawande to Head “Manhattan Project” . . . for Health Care

Is There a Private Sector Solution to U.S. Health Care Mess?

No, I don’t know how to reform the United States’ tangled, inefficient, and spectacularly expensive health care system.

But, I know how I would go about doing it.

First, I’d start from scratch.

Today’s “legacy” health care system (to be charitable) is no more susceptible of being re-worked into a cutting edge, world-leading model than a horse could be retrofitted to compete with an internal combustion automobile.

Next, I’d keep any pilot program out of the clutches of the federal government, where it could be suffocated, warped, or kidnapped by Congress and/or the President, and inevitably turned into a political football used to further a demagogic agenda (whatever it may be).

The Ultimate NGO

Instead, I’d assemble a consortium of the nation’s leading companies, whose combined 1.2 million employees represented both a prime beneficiary of any to-be-designed health care system, and a ready test market cum focus group for same.

Then I’d make sure that the corporate sponsors were committed to using the latest technology — indeed, were technological innovators themselves.

Next, I’d make sure that the inevitable trial-and-error, learning curve stage(s) were driven by empirical data (and lots of it!), with adjustments based on scientific best practices, and disciplined by rigorous cost-benefit calculations.

I’d also want a secure, long-term and patient source of funding, that insisted on oversight and accountability — but not ever-rising quarterly profits.

The Ideal Leader

Finally, to head it all, I’d wanted a wise and gifted physician, thinker, public policy expert, and — if possible — talented writer and communicator.

Far-fetched?

Then you missed the news last week that Atul Gawande, a doctor, New Yorker writer, and public health researcher, was chosen to head the health care initiative jointly conceived by Amazon, Berkshire Hathaway, and JP Morgan Chase.

Unlike the Manhattan Project, Gawande and his team will not be able to operate in a cloak of privacy, nor will they have the imperative of tipping the balance of an in-progress world war.

Of course, also unlike the Manhattan Project, Gawande’s mandate is all about saving and improving people’s lives.

I can’t wait to see what he comes up with!

See also, “Being Mortal”: Lessons for Doctors & Patients — and Realtors & Clients.”

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