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Hospital Impact has been ranked one of the top 50 healthcare blogs by Wikio.
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Greetings from Stockholm, Sweden, where I had an opportunity to publicize my new book, "Getting It Done." It was fascinating to learn from physicians and allied healthcare professionals that they, too, had ongoing issues relating to communication and collaboration.
The purpose of this post is to call attention to a different philosophy of regulation between our two countries, not to advocate that the United States adopt a socialized medical system. In Sweden, like the United States, healthcare is predominantly local. Although the Ministry of Health and Social Services establishes national guidelines and supervises activities at the lower levels, healthcare financing rests with 90 county councils, with whom hospitals and private physicians contract to provide care to 290 municipalities.
Eight regional hospitals provide tertiary care for Sweden's approximately 9.4 million residents, about 5 percent of whom are age 80 or older. Healthcare spending averages 9 percent of GDP. National debt is about 40 percent of GDP. Life expectancy is approximately 79 years for men and 83 years for women.
Doctors and nurses made decisions about whom to treat and how to treat them when I did a fellowship in Sweden, and they still do now. Pre-approval is not required for treatment. The country has been using a system of electronic medical records for the last five years, and outliers are discussed on a physician-to-physician basis. Physicians who work in administration are encouraged to see patients as well, to maintain their clinical credibility.
That physicians and nurses have control over day-to-day management decisions is a credit not only to politicians but also to physicians and nurses who embrace this self-regulatory role and do not leave such duties to others who may not share our views of the sanctity of the relationship between patient and caregivers.
Regardless of the outcome of the upcoming Supreme Court decision, U.S. healthcare professionals will be expected to provide more coordinated cost-effective care over the next 10 years, not only because current expenditures are unsustainable but also because patients and their families are counting on all of us to make prudent decisions. Now that "silly season" is officially underway, members of both parties would do well to remember that for every index finger they point at others, three more point toward themselves.
Ken is a practicing general surgeon/MBA and CEO of HealthcareCollobration.com, who works with organizations that need to engage physicians to improve clinical and financial performance in this era of healthcare reform. His latest book, Getting it Done, celebrates healthcare heroes who broke down silos and improved care for their communities. Please learn more about what he does by visiting http://gettingitdonebook.com.
