"My last post was so dark, it hurt me to write it."
I feel you there. I broke out in tears so many times throughout the past year while analyzing data. All I think about is death and injustice all day long.
Impressive figures. Kudos to you for your involvement in this.
While I can't say how much bias is involved (the number of diagnoses per patient would suggest there isn't), I think putting healthcare into the hands of the community seems to be the way to go. Commercialization of German healthcare is also making giant leaps forward and I can't deny that it's scaring me.
A suggestion. Don't drag yourself down thinking about death and injustice. Keep yourself busy doing something about it. I hope your country can fight this. I have read that most Germans have health care funded by their employers. I understand that elected employee and employer representatives run the health plans. If that is true, your healthcare is in the hands of the community. That may be why you live longer for half the money.
There is hope after all. My concern is that there is too many examples of the former and not enough examples of the later - at least for now. I want nothing to do with hospitals or ERs - particularly after my husband's experience with both.
Jun 27, 2023·edited Jun 27, 2023Liked by William H Bestermann Jr MD
Congratulations to Vestra Health, Congruity and most of all to you, Bill!! What is wonderful is to consider the tremendous benefits of this work that ultimately led to this award and recognition is that things really can CHANGE FOR THE BETTER!!!! Bravo to all!!! And blessings on those patients enjoying healthier lives without draining their bank accounts. I love seeing this happen!!!!
It can happen in Arkansas and your medical background coupled with a law degree can speed it up. I am working with a group of stakeholders that can bring self-insured rates to employers that are as small as 20 employees. That model can deliver these principles in almost any setting.
Thanks for your response to mine, Bill. I think the key is to re-build our health care system on the basis of public health, both as ethos and ethics. The philosophic underpinnnings of public health and private for-profit health care delivery systems stand in stark contrast with one another. In a public health based system we are all entitled to the best care but also all responsible for sharing the limited resources available in an equitable manner. No one should get rich in a public health based system of national care delivery. In a public health based system providers and administrators are held accountable for the management of the resources available, and waste or privilege would not be tolerated. In our for-profit health care system waste is built into management and those with the most wealth have the greatest access to care at all levels; they are privileged and other are deprived. I am not talking about some small change occurring, a fix to the system in existence. The system in existence is completely and comprehensibly broken and unable to self-correct. It is functioning as it was designed to function, and to generate the outcomes that we now, to our great national detriment, are experiencing, one of which is the almost total lack of trust in doctors and hospitals.
The two latest stories from you are related, Bill. We know what to do to take much better preventive and primary care of patients with the most common and serious chronic illnesses. We know quality care saves lives and saves money. You have been a leader in writing that book about effective care, chapter and verse. That we as a profession, a health care system, a country, do not practice what works is the dilemma, and largely explained by the profit motive and greed underlying the actual delivery of care and services. That gap is only getting wider every day. It is not incompetence, but raw evil that sustains and widens that gap, to the detriment of our people and our country’s future.
Thank you David for calling out the disconnect between what we do and what we know. I know why patients don't trust our medical system and they should not. I don't want to be in the hospital. I don't want to be in the ER. Many of those visits are caused by a systems failure. We can all point the way to better health at much less money. We can build a health system that Americans can trust but there is a lot of heavy lifting to be done. Thanks as always for your comments that make the points clearer.
Bill, we can help to dramatically improve their performance on safe and effective early detection and measurements lifestyle optimization. You know that we can.
Once again, I want to thank you for the clarity with which you make your points and I agree entirely. Tweaking the current system willl accomplish nothing. It requires a major overhaul and I should point out, it serves no one. A system that does not incorporate the latest science and systems is good for no one and great wealth is no protection. If you get a bypass and you don't get optimal medical therapy for your heart artery disease, you can drop dead on a fishing trip just like a homeless veteran. If we don't drastically change what we are doing, no one is safe.
Bill, please help Amy and I work on intorducing our technology again to your friends there. We can help them to dramtically reduce unneccesary cardiac testing and implementing menaingful lifestyle optimization measures and outcomes at lowest possible costs.
"My last post was so dark, it hurt me to write it."
I feel you there. I broke out in tears so many times throughout the past year while analyzing data. All I think about is death and injustice all day long.
Impressive figures. Kudos to you for your involvement in this.
While I can't say how much bias is involved (the number of diagnoses per patient would suggest there isn't), I think putting healthcare into the hands of the community seems to be the way to go. Commercialization of German healthcare is also making giant leaps forward and I can't deny that it's scaring me.
A suggestion. Don't drag yourself down thinking about death and injustice. Keep yourself busy doing something about it. I hope your country can fight this. I have read that most Germans have health care funded by their employers. I understand that elected employee and employer representatives run the health plans. If that is true, your healthcare is in the hands of the community. That may be why you live longer for half the money.
Yes I am doing something about it. Very active actually. :)
But trying to understand the US data is just impossible without doing a lot of thinking about it... :/
You are right about German healthcare, but there are some very worrying trends, with lots of corporate money flowing into clinics.
That's great and I am confident that you will make a difference.
There is hope after all. My concern is that there is too many examples of the former and not enough examples of the later - at least for now. I want nothing to do with hospitals or ERs - particularly after my husband's experience with both.
Always great to hear from you Janice. We can collaborate and bring this approach to any community that is willing to hear the story.
Congratulations to Vestra Health, Congruity and most of all to you, Bill!! What is wonderful is to consider the tremendous benefits of this work that ultimately led to this award and recognition is that things really can CHANGE FOR THE BETTER!!!! Bravo to all!!! And blessings on those patients enjoying healthier lives without draining their bank accounts. I love seeing this happen!!!!
It can happen in Arkansas and your medical background coupled with a law degree can speed it up. I am working with a group of stakeholders that can bring self-insured rates to employers that are as small as 20 employees. That model can deliver these principles in almost any setting.
Thanks for your response to mine, Bill. I think the key is to re-build our health care system on the basis of public health, both as ethos and ethics. The philosophic underpinnnings of public health and private for-profit health care delivery systems stand in stark contrast with one another. In a public health based system we are all entitled to the best care but also all responsible for sharing the limited resources available in an equitable manner. No one should get rich in a public health based system of national care delivery. In a public health based system providers and administrators are held accountable for the management of the resources available, and waste or privilege would not be tolerated. In our for-profit health care system waste is built into management and those with the most wealth have the greatest access to care at all levels; they are privileged and other are deprived. I am not talking about some small change occurring, a fix to the system in existence. The system in existence is completely and comprehensibly broken and unable to self-correct. It is functioning as it was designed to function, and to generate the outcomes that we now, to our great national detriment, are experiencing, one of which is the almost total lack of trust in doctors and hospitals.
The two latest stories from you are related, Bill. We know what to do to take much better preventive and primary care of patients with the most common and serious chronic illnesses. We know quality care saves lives and saves money. You have been a leader in writing that book about effective care, chapter and verse. That we as a profession, a health care system, a country, do not practice what works is the dilemma, and largely explained by the profit motive and greed underlying the actual delivery of care and services. That gap is only getting wider every day. It is not incompetence, but raw evil that sustains and widens that gap, to the detriment of our people and our country’s future.
Thank you David for calling out the disconnect between what we do and what we know. I know why patients don't trust our medical system and they should not. I don't want to be in the hospital. I don't want to be in the ER. Many of those visits are caused by a systems failure. We can all point the way to better health at much less money. We can build a health system that Americans can trust but there is a lot of heavy lifting to be done. Thanks as always for your comments that make the points clearer.
Great news, and good job. All makes perfect sense to me.
Thanks David. I know that you are one of the leaders in American primary care and I am delighted that it makes sense to you. That is important.
Bill, we can help to dramatically improve their performance on safe and effective early detection and measurements lifestyle optimization. You know that we can.
And we can help make those patients safe once you find them.
Much safer without ALL the fanfare and expense, not to mention the risks of injuries and deaths!
Once again, I want to thank you for the clarity with which you make your points and I agree entirely. Tweaking the current system willl accomplish nothing. It requires a major overhaul and I should point out, it serves no one. A system that does not incorporate the latest science and systems is good for no one and great wealth is no protection. If you get a bypass and you don't get optimal medical therapy for your heart artery disease, you can drop dead on a fishing trip just like a homeless veteran. If we don't drastically change what we are doing, no one is safe.
Bill, please help Amy and I work on intorducing our technology again to your friends there. We can help them to dramtically reduce unneccesary cardiac testing and implementing menaingful lifestyle optimization measures and outcomes at lowest possible costs.