Medicine is a business. It’s a big business. But it’s like no other business, often in ways that are not good for anyone involved.
The good news is that there are many amazing people who work hard, have compassion, and do their best to make things better for their patients. More good news is that dedication and hard work have created drugs and procedures that can cure or alleviate awful conditions, conditions that resulted in pain, suffering and premature death in the past. We are truly blessed.
It’s not news to say that the business of medicine could be greatly improved. When this subject is discussed, it’s usually done in terms of rocks and hard places, or irresistible forces and immovable objects. Then hands are waved, thrown up in the air, and nothing but desperate hopes are expressed.
I believe that the business of medicine can be improved. Greatly. From the outside, it’s impossible. But when I look at the computers and software systems and procedures, I find a particularly ripe example of something I’ve seen many times: decrepit software running on outrageously expensive hardware, surrounded by ineffective business processes, and run by experienced, well-meaning people trapped on a steam-age island in a world that has long-since gone electronic. While there is no magic wand to fix everything in a flash, the technology is available to make dramatic improvements. Today.
To a broadly experienced software person, the solutions are obvious – once the exact technical flaws have been precisely identified. Much of this series will be devoted to spelling out those flaws, not to wallow in them, but to put cross-hairs on them so they can be fixed!
As context for the rest of the posts in this series, let me observe that the issues I will raise are waaaay too "little" to engage the big minds and the great powers in the medical industry. These prestigious and powerful people much prefer to give talks, issue press releases and hang banners about how they and their institutions are "innovative," how they are leading the industry in their use of "cognitive computing" or "artificial intelligence." They hold and/or attend conferences on the subject, and pour money in those general directions, each of which is sure to deliver real results real soon now — why, the trials are just so promising!!!
That's not my perspective, to put it mildly. See this for some plain words and facts on the subject of fancy-pants innovation in healthcare. And see this for facts and logic that help explain why this subject gets almost no interest or attention from the higher-ups in healthcare management.