“Contact with the US Healthcare System is the 5th leading cause of death in the United States.”

Please read that article. It’s a perfect insider’s view into why it’s so difficult to innovate in healthcare. The dinosaurs have all of the transactions locked up by just a few big players…the little guys actually producing innovative things are locked out of the talks that happen behind closed doors.

NYU has been recently advertising their committment to safety and quality through process design. It saved the airline industry. It will save the sickcare industry too, if:

  • Patients demand safety and quality.
  • Doctors, hospitals, and nurses change the way they’ve always done things. In essence, we’ve got to get over our own egos and admit fallability and 100% devotion to the patient, who should be at the center of every healthcare experience.

It’s sad we have to do the math to determine how many patients are saved by modern healthcare vs. how many we kill by stupid mistakes. Hopefully we save more than we kill.