Can We Make Sense Of American Health Care? And How Would We Do That?

Mike Magee This past week my wife and I were at a family event to celebrate a 70th birthday. Our extended family has more than a few doctors. One who had read CODE BLUE and had a strong interest in health policy asked if I felt I (and others) were too hard on doctors. My […]

“The Commitment to Mutuality is Fragile in the U.S.”, Says Berwick.

Mike Magee Earlier this month Donald Berwick published a thoughtful article in JAMA titled “Politics and Health.” It touched on a range of themes that I addressed in a speech in 2005 at the Library of Congress. In that speech, I said, “There is a growing political disconnect between those who make health policy and those […]

Is Tenet Healthcare Your Collection Agency?

Mike Magee When America’s politicians and business leaders elected to promote a free-enterprise approach to health delivery services in the immediate post-WWII period, they were choosing a course diametrically opposed to not only our Allies, but also our enemies at the time. We rejected serious health care planning. Instead we chose to directly and indirectly […]

Canada vs. U.S. Health Care: Common Wealth

Mike Magee Republicans this week demonstrated with clarity that further tinkering with our broken health care system will almost certainly add cost and undermine quality and coverage. To begin to define a way back home, we need to initially focus on two fundamental challenges. Problem 1: Defining a National Health Care Vision There is an […]

Sustainable Prevention: At The Intersection of America’s Two Most Powerful Social Networks

Mike Magee Last week, I made a quick trip to Washington – one day, back and forth, from Hartford, CT. I was there to seek advice from an old friend as we complete planning for the second decade of the Rocking Chair Project. This early childhood intervention program targets young, economically disadvantaged, expectant mothers, supporting […]

Health Reform On The Edge: Stage 1 and Stage 2.

Mike Magee This past week, in a speech at Bowling Green State University, I described health transformation as occuring in two phases. Phase 1 was the acknowledgement that the status quo in U.S. health delivery had run its course, that is to say it is no longer affordable or defensible. Phase 2, as I defined […]

Less is More but Zero is Best When it Comes to Preventable Injuries

Judy Salerno It’s been about 12 years since the Institute of Medicine (IOM) released its landmark report To Err is Human, shining a light on how commonly medical errors occur in our health care system. The report concluded that as many as 98,000 people die in hospitals each year as a result of such errors. […]