Written by a groundbreaking figure of modern medical study, Tracking Medicine is an eye-opening introduction to the science of health care delivery, as well as a powerful argument for its relevance in shaping the future of our country. An indispensable resource for those involved in public health and health policy, this book uses Dr. Wennberg's pioneering research to provide a framework for understanding the health care crisis; and outlines a roadmap for real change in the future....

Written by a groundbreaking figure of modern medical study, Tracking Medicine is an eye-opening introduction to the science of health care delivery, as well as a powerful argument for its relevance in shaping the future of our country. An indispensable resource for those involved in public health and health policy, this book uses Dr. Wennberg's pioneering research to provide a framework for understanding the health care crisis; and outlines a roadmap for real change in the future....

A palliative care doctor on the front lines of hospital care illuminates one of the most important and controversial ethical issues of our time on his quest to transform care through the end of life.It is harder to die in this country than ever before. Statistics show that the vast majority of Americans would prefer to die at home, yet many of us spend our last days fearful and in pain in a healthcare system ruled by high-tech procedures and a philosophy to "fight ...

"Will unquestionably help many individuals become more active and fully engaged in their health care." - From the introduction by Eric J. Topol, MD"There's not a doctor or patient in the land who won't benefit from reading this clear, concise manual which sets out how each can contribute and collaborate to get better and safer healthcare." - Dr. Tessa Richards, Analysis Editor, British Medical JournalLet Patients Help is a concise, action-oriented handbook on how to do what...

Professionalism is a complex and highly disputed idea of crucial importance in a range of fields, not least health and social care. It can inspire people by reminding them of workplace ideals and the value of occupational expertise. But it can also feel threatening and de-motivating; for example, if it is used to demand ever more from people working in very challenging circumstances. The language of professionalism can evoke a special relationship of trust between service users and practit...

On July 12, 1966, the Medical Care Insurance Act was passed by the federal House of Commons after a ferocious public debate that pitted the vast majority of Canadians against a powerful alliance of business, insurance companies, and doctors.More than thirty years later, the same battle is being fought all over again. Only now, the forces opposed to medicare are more ideologically unified, more richly endowed, and tied to transnational corporations whose power exceeds that of entire...

For four decades Robert Evans has been Canada’s foremost health policy analyst and commentator, playing a leadership role in the development of both health economics and population health at home and internationally. An Undisciplined Economist collects Evans’ most important contributions and includes two new articles.The topics addressed range widely, from the peculiar structure of the health care industry to the social determinants of the health of entire populations to t...

In Their Own Words invites you to become “doctor for a day” and see medical practice from the physicians’ perspective. Drawing on one of the largest physician surveys ever undertaken, “In Their Own Words” offers insights from hundreds of doctors, who reveal in candid comments exactly how they feel about being physicians and why it matters to patients. Read why: Close to half of all doctors plan to opt out of medical practice in the next one to three years, or reduce the number of patients ...

The history of contemporary genetic counseling, including its medical, personal, and ethical dimensions.Winner of the CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title of the Choice ACRLFor sixty years genetic counselors have served as the messengers of important information about the risks, realities, and perceptions of genetic conditions. More than 2,500 certified genetic counselors in the United States work in clinics, community and teaching hospitals, public health dep...

Conventional wisdom holds that programs for the poor are vulnerable to instability and retrenchment. Medicaid, however, has grown into the nation’s largest intergovernmental grant program, accounting for nearly half of all federal funding to state and local governments. Medicaid’s generous open-ended federal matching grants have given governors a powerful incentive to mobilize on behalf of its maintenance and expansion, using methods ranging from lobbying and negotiation to creative financ...

The American health care industry has undergone such dizzying transformations since the 1960s that many patients have lost confidence in a system they find too impersonal and ineffectual. Is their distrust justified and can confidence be restored? David Dranove, a leading health care economist, tackles these and other key questions in the first major economic and historical investigation of the field. Focusing on the doctor-patient relationship, he begins with the era of the independently ...

Technicians of Human Dignity traces the extraordinary rise of human dignity as a defining concern of religious, political, and bioethical institutions over the last half century and offers original insight into how human dignity has become threatened by its own success. The global expansion of dignitarian politics has left dignity without a stable set of meanings or referents, unsettling contemporary economies of life and power.Engaging anthropology, theology, and bioethics, Bennet...