Change starts with one individual bravely acting against popular opinion for a prolonged time — as was the case with Patty Skolnik in her fight to bring physician transparency to Colorado.
Moral of the Story: Doctors, by and large, do not have bosses. They are unaccountable and bad things happen when anyone is unaccountable.
3. The Hospital by Brian Alexander
The book The Hospital by Brian Alexander was released in March 2021. It is a fantastic exposé on the machinations of hospital administrators to maintain and grow hospital revenue and profit... even at not-for-profit hospitals.
Brian Alexander tells the true story of the rural hospital system called Community Hospitals and Wellness Centers (CHWC) in Northwestern Ohio. He describes how patients, doctors and nurses are largely used as clueless pawns on a healthcare chessboard orchestrated by the hospital's Board of Directors, CEO and executive team.
Conversely, the author tells a positive story of remarkable patient care at Health Partners of Western Ohio — a group of 16 primary care centers for the young and old, rich and poor alike. These centers provide complementary services including behavioral health, substance abuse treatment, social work and dental care.
Brian Alexander's book is an inspiration to those wishing to confront healthcare's reality and do something about it.
4. Never Pay the First Bill by Marshall Allen
Marshall Allen has a new healthcare book out called Never Pay the First Bill.
Marshall Allen was a well-respected healthcare investigative reporter for ProPublica.
In Never Pay the First Bill, Marshall Allen asserts that, when it comes to billing, insurance companies, hospitals and other healthcare providers are BULLIES. However, Allen explains how, when, where and why to fight back.
There are many practical tactics in the book, but 2 stand out:
On a hospital consent form you can hand write in that you will pay no more than 2X the Medicare rate for a service. This one tactic has stopped hospitals from billing patients whatever egregious amounts they want.
You can sue a hospital in small claims court for excessive fees. The book even has a letter template that can be mailed to the hospital's billing office and general counsel.
5. The Checklist Manifesto by Dr. Atul Gawande
Dr. Atul Gawande is a surgeon, Harvard Medical School professor and writer for The Atlantic. Dr. Gawande is one of the most famous doctors in America. His book, The Checklist Manifesto, describes how he and his colleagues at the World Health Organization developed a 19-point surgery safety checklist that reduced surgical mortality and complications by almost 50%.
90% of US hospitals use this surgery safety checklist today. Other industries such as airlines, restaurants and construction have used checklists for decades.
Healthcare is so far behind because the forces of competition and regulation that have fostered the adoption of checklists in other industries have been insufficient in medicine. In fact, the entire discipline of industrial engineering would bring tremendous value to healthcare if competition and regulation necessitated it.
There you have it: The Top 5 healthcare books for any healthcare, health insurance or employee benefits professional. Happy reading … or audiobook listening!