Whither Healthcare Consumerism and Technology Likely to Reign

It’s not easy to understand why the outstanding books on the future of healthcare are coming out of Denver. But since lots of good things are coming out of the West, please don’t hold that against these two books.

We have come to the end of an old era and an old way of thinking. It’s time to reassess and look to the future. Beyond Managed Care attempts to do that. The book is divided into four sections. Part I is lessons learned from the past two decades. Part II examines financial resources available to fund healthcare. Part III looks at external factors influencing the healthcare marketplace of the future. These include population and income growth, the aging of the population, the growing role of consumers, the capacity of healthcare providers and the effects of governmental regulations and laws.

All of this leads to Part IV, which describes four possible healthcare scenarios of the future. Scenario I, incremental change, represents a continuation of what has been happening in the 1990s. Scenario II, constrained resources, projects serious cutbacks in payment level and drastic instability. Scenario III, technology dominant, envisions healthcare merged with Stars Wars in a future even Bill Gates cannot imagine. Scenario IV would combine a technology dominant world with unprecedented growth in consumerism. The authors enthusiastically predict that the future will involve a convergence of consumerism and technology.

This conclusion obviously demanded another book. Strategies for the New Health Care Marketplace is the result.

Strategies is also divided into four parts with logical sequencing. Part I deals with understanding the healthcare marketplace. Part II describes how healthcare delivery and financing systems can develop strategies that anticipate fundamental changes in the new era. Part III covers leadership and governance in positioning healthcare for the 21st century. Part IV talks about essentials for success in the new consumer oriented marketplace.

If you want to know about and influence how healthcare in the United States is going to change in your lifetime, read these books. Beyond Managed Care emphasizes “why” we need to change, and Strategies deals with “what” we need to change. I thought Beyond Managed Care was excellent but Strategies is even better.

We can all agree that the future isn’t what it used to be. Now, let’s do something about it. If you’ve read Who Moved my Cheese? and were wondering what you should be doing about it, read these books. Every hospital medical library ought to have a copy.

Gary VanderArk, MD, is a member of the AANS Board of Directors, a senior partner of Rocky Mountain Neurosurgical Alliance, Englewood, Colo., and past president of the Colorado Medical Society.