Epidemic of Care: A Call for Safer, Better, and More Accountable Health Care

Health care costs in America are skyrocketing, with premium increases of thirty to forty percent not unheard of for some insurers and some consumers. And what does the system have to show for it? More than forty million uninsured citizens, inconsistent and unaccountable care, and the fastest growing and most wasteful health care delivery economy in the world. In Epidemic of Care, two of the country's most prominent leaders in health care offer a primer on health care cost drivers— and what can be done to curtail them and save the system. This hard-hitting look at a failing system reveals

• Why the cost of health care will cause deep cuts in the take-home pay of American workers— a twelve percent premium increase wipes out a four percent salary increase
• How voter demands for changes in the system will bring about a political nightmare
• Why many smaller companies will drop health care coverage altogether, leaving millions uninsured
• How our health care delivery system is really a non-system—with millions of independent, uncoordinated, and separately moving parts and its own priorities
• Why health care will never approach perfection until computers become exam room tools for the frontline physician
• How to cure the system in a way politically acceptable to all sides

Recognizing a crisis in American health care, but rejecting any solutions that are not "market-based," Halvorson (chair and CEO, Kaiser Permanente) and Isham (chief health officer, HealthPartners) explore some of the reasons for rising health care costs (absolving the HMOs for any responsibility) and make suggestions for improving the situation. Their proposed system rests largely on promoting evidence- based care for physicians and transferring greater costs to patients to improve "efficiency." Annotation ©2003 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

George C. Halvorson is chairman and CEO of Kaiser Permanente, America's leading integrated health care organization. He was formerly president and CEO of HealthPartners in Minneapolis, Minnesota and has helped start HMOs in countries around the world. Halvorson has written several books on health care topics, including the highly-praised Strong Medicine (1993).

George J. Isham, M.D., is medical director and chief health officer for HealthPartners. He is a founding board member of the Institute for Clinical Systems Improvement in Minnesota and has been a national leader in quality improvement methods.