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Event: Author Talk with Dr. Tom Lee, author of Chaos and Organization in
Health Care
Date: December 8th, 2009
Time: 8:30-11:00am (networking from 8:30am-9, presentation starts at 9 with
book signing to follow)
Location GWU Ross Hall 227, 2300 Eye ST NW (Must have ID for entry)
Cost: Free and open to the public Please RSVP at
http://rsvp.leadership-programs.org
About the Book:
One of the most daunting challenges facing the new U.S. administration is
health care reform. The size of the system, the number of stakeholders, and
ever-rising costs make the problem seem almost intractable. But in Chaos and
Organization in Health Care, two leading physicians offer an optimistic
prognosis. In their frontline work as providers, Thomas Lee and James Mongan
see the inefficiency, the missed opportunities, and the occasional harm that
can result from the current system. The root cause of these problems, they
argue, is chaos in the delivery of care. If the problem is chaos, the
solution is organization, and in this timely and outspoken book, they offer
a plan.
In many ways, this chaos is caused by something good: the dramatic progress
in medical science-the explosion of medical knowledge and the exponential
increase in treatment options. Imposed on a fragmented system of small
practices and individual patients with multiple providers, progress results
in chaos. Lee and Mongan argue that attacking this chaos is even more
important than whether health care is managed by government or controlled by
market forces.
Some providers are already tightly organized, adapting management principles
from business and offering care that is by many measures safer, better, and
less costly. Lee and Mongan propose multiple strategies that can be adopted
nationwide, including electronic medical records and information systems for
sharing knowledge; team-based care, with doctors and other providers working
together; and disease management programs to coordinate care for the sickest
patients. |
