2030 - The Future of Medicine: Avoiding a Medical Meltdown

by Richard Barker

Overview

It is 2030. What are the new technologies that have advanced healthcare? What are the new or strengthened demands placed on the healthcare systems of the world? Is the future affordable, or do we see drastic rationing of care or the collapse of healthcare insurance? This book tackles these questions, and provides some answers. It does not shrink from the uncomfortable challenges that lie ahead, as demand surges and new technologies add to the strain. It lays out ten levers that stand a fighting chance of closing the healthcare equation, of balancing supply and demand. But these levers require radically new thinking on the part of politicians, health systems managers, professionals and patients alike. Thinking that needs to be urgently turned into action, whatever the barriers and vested interests. Of all subjects, healthcare is intensely personal, so the future is illustrated with the health histories of members of a fictional family, the Carters. They could live in the US or the UK - or any number of countries that all face the challenge of affordable healthcare over the next 20 years.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780191635557
Publisher:	OUP Oxford
Publication date:	12/15/2010
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Richard has spent most of his career in healthcare, as a leader of organisations, as a board member and as a consultant. His leadership roles have spanned therapeutics, diagnostics and informatics both in the United States and in Europe. He was recently voted as one of the top 50 most influential people in UK healthcare and he sits on several healthcare and life sciences advisory boards on both sides of the Atlantic. His passions include securing a sustainable future for healthcare and redesigning how new medical technology is brought into practice. He now lives in London but is a frequent visitor to the US, where he spent 11 years working in Boston, New Haven, New York and San Francisco.

Table of Contents

Introduction and summary1. The supply of new medicine - unlimited? 2. The demand for healthcare - insatiable? 3. The meltdown - unavoidable? 4. Taking responsibility - a 20 year healthcare agenda5. Conclusion - the US, the UK and the middle way

Editorial Reviews

Reviewer: Carole A. Kenner, PhD, RN, FAAN, FNAP, ANEF (The College of New Jersey)
Description: This book focuses on the factors that are leading to the potential collapse of the healthcare system and its financing, and discusses strategies to avoid it.
Purpose: The purpose is to raise the awareness of health professionals and the lay public. Its focus is on the health care system in the U.S. and U.K.
Audience: The audience includes both healthcare professionals and the lay public.
Features: The book moves from discussions about the drivers of healthcare costs, such as the technology needed for many high tech tests and the unhealthy lifestyle choices that drive the supply and demand for care. It outlines 10 levers of healthcare productivity, including productivity incentives, need for outcomes-based value, patient empowerment, and targeted therapies. The final sections are devoted to the need for healthcare redesign, including new roles or expanded scopes of practice for nurses, pharmacists, and other health professionals. The book goes where few go, and that is to compare issues in the U.S. and U.K. and note how some issues such as need for redesign are similar even though the healthcare payment or insurance models are different. The book lacks references and is opinion based, but there is a short list of good recommended readings.
Assessment: There is no comparable book on the market at present.

Doody's Review Service

"The book goes where few go, and that is to compare issues in the U.S. and U.K. and note how some issues such as need for redesign are similar even though the healthcare payment or insurance models are different." —Doody's

"Barker's book is a brief and excellent primer on current and possible future trends in medical care. His readable prose captures and synthesizes well the current thinking on how to deal with costs associated with medical advancement." — Health Affairs

From the Publisher