As
a social scientist I live for Census data.
I thrive on Census data and I wait with great expectation for the next
round of Census data releases.
Some of my favorite reading, especially in the
context of the health care reform debate, is authored by Margaret J. Wheatley....
I had
the opportunity to think of Wheatley’s work a few weeks ago during a
conversation with a 26-year-old doctoral student about potential impacts of
health care reform on young adults, especially graduate students and those
working part-time to support their education.
I marvel at the lack of understanding of the timetable for and potential impacts of federal health care reform efforts by educated, interested and engaged people crossing my path. With 25 plus years of health care administration and policy experience, I have learned (often the hard way) that all health care is state and local.
Ten years ago, the Institute of Medicine
report To Err is Human: Building a Safer Health System demonstrated that
up to 98,000 patients die in United States’ hospitals each year as
a result of avoidable medical errors. With this mortal diagnosis for health
care delivery, how can it be that subsequent meetings of the American College
of Healthcare Executives (ACHE), the executives responsible for health
care delivery institutions, continue to focus primarily on their leadership
development and self-promotion?
