Dec 13 2011
In a pair of articles, The Wall Street Journal examines the future of the American health care system and finds that many experts think there is little new in strategies to squeeze costs and improve quality.
The Wall Street Journal: The Future Of U.S. Health Care
Call it the united state of health care. Amid enormous pressure to cut costs, improve care and prepare for changes tied to the federal health care overhaul, major players in the industry are staking out new ground, often blurring the lines between businesses that have traditionally been separate (Mathews, 12/12).
The Wall Street Journal: Veteran Health Care Executives Say It Has All Been Tried Before, With Mixed Results
As hospitals, doctors and health insurers pursue integration strategies to squeeze costs and strengthen their positions, veteran health-care executives warn that nearly all the strategies were attempted decades ago, with decidedly mixed results (Mathews, 12/12).
This article was reprinted from kaiserhealthnews.org with permission from the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation. Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent news service, is a program of the Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan health care policy research organization unaffiliated with Kaiser Permanente. |