For more than 50 years I have been following the evolution of medicine and wondered how it would be industrialized.
Industrialization means technological focus, marketing focus and dramatic cost reduction.
In medicine it has long been assumed that gigantic employers of doctors such as Group Health and Kaiser were the model. This kind of mechanism does not seem to have reduced costs and increasingly I see Kaiser outsourcing many of its functions.
This outsourcing is a clue to the emergence of the industrialization of medicine.
Industrialization seems to be taking hold in the form of focusing on organs and bodily systems.
The most successful business seems to be standalone dialysis entities. These are now national. The same is true for endoscopy and pathology. Most testing including large MRI and CAT scans are becoming standalone operations. In dentistry, surgical procedures and orthodontia are often standalone businesses.
Increasingly this is true for a wide range of complex treatments including various forms of cancer, heart disease and childhood disabilities.
I would expect this industrialization process to continue despite the imposition of socialized medicine on the United States.
It is hard for most people to understand that innovation in medicine is driven by commerce at both the pharmaceutical, medical appliance and day-to-day operations of medicine levels. Commerce is the source of this innovation. I think it will survive the stupidity of national socialized medicine.
Democrats, enchanted by their ideological fantasies fail to see that commerce is the source of medical innovation. It would be cruel for me to say it but I often think that every Democrat should be forced to live with the medicine and dentistry of 1820.
Industrialization means technological focus, marketing focus and dramatic cost reduction.
In medicine it has long been assumed that gigantic employers of doctors such as Group Health and Kaiser were the model. This kind of mechanism does not seem to have reduced costs and increasingly I see Kaiser outsourcing many of its functions.
This outsourcing is a clue to the emergence of the industrialization of medicine.
Industrialization seems to be taking hold in the form of focusing on organs and bodily systems.
Increasingly this is true for a wide range of complex treatments including various forms of cancer, heart disease and childhood disabilities.
I would expect this industrialization process to continue despite the imposition of socialized medicine on the United States.
It is hard for most people to understand that innovation in medicine is driven by commerce at both the pharmaceutical, medical appliance and day-to-day operations of medicine levels. Commerce is the source of this innovation. I think it will survive the stupidity of national socialized medicine.
Democrats, enchanted by their ideological fantasies fail to see that commerce is the source of medical innovation. It would be cruel for me to say it but I often think that every Democrat should be forced to live with the medicine and dentistry of 1820.