Book Review...the Health Care Cure, by Jeff Margolis

HCA 101 Book Review by XXXXXXX April 26, 2012

Title: THE HEALTHCARE CURE - How Sharing Information Can Make The System Work Better

Author: Jeff Margolis

Publisher: Prometheus Books

Date of publication: 2011 by The TriZetto Group, Inc.

Jeff Margolis is the Founding CEO and former chairman of the TriZetto Group, Inc., the largest supplier of information solutions to US healthcare providers.

He has dedicated over twenty five years to improving the US healthcare system. Margolis has been praised for his insight, expertise, and the ability to solve complex challenges pertaining to all aspects of the healthcare industry. He has a wide-range of experience and knowledge in “systems science and information technology”, and has personally experienced health challenges in dealing with his own chronic disease (Crohn’s Disease), where he has dealt with numerous defects within the healthcare system. Margolis’ purpose in writing this book is to offer ideas and solutions to fix the inefficiencies and to start better communications (sharing information) among the various levels of the healthcare arrangement. He explains how healthcare is organized; he sees the problems, and knows how to “cure” them. He talks about the current state of the system, and builds from there. He demonstrates how “evidence-based medical protocols, incentives for consumers to behave in healthier ways, and reimbursing doctors based on results not on the number of patients seen or tests run”, will produce a

much healthier and a cohesive society. His idea for healthcare is called “Integrated Health Management” (IHM). It uses a systems science approach to improve the coordination of medical benefits and treatment to maximize the value for the money paid for services. He uses clever examples/scenarios that most people can relate to for explaining how sharing information between patients, doctors, employers, healthcare insurers, brokers, hospitals, and pharmacies would be...