Reengineering Health Care : A Manifesto for Radically Rethinking Health Care Delivery

Chapter 1. Why Reengineer Health Care?

Health care costs too much and achieves too little for one profound reason—it is tremendously inefficient. And because of that inefficiency, quality issues abound.

Some view improving efficiency in health care as simply getting doctors to see more patients each hour. Our view is different. In these pages, we present the stories of ingenious people and organizations, large and small, that have found ways to do the job better. They have reduced tensions and improved communication among medical team members, enormously improving performance. They have reprioritized the physician’s day, leaving more time for patients. They have engaged patients along a continuum of care across a fragmented system. And they ...