Practising Health For All

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Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust

Author : Institute of Medicine
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 030921646X
Total Pages : 217 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (92 download)

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Book Synopsis Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2011-06-16 with total page 217 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Advances in medical, biomedical and health services research have reduced the level of uncertainty in clinical practice. Clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) complement this progress by establishing standards of care backed by strong scientific evidence. CPGs are statements that include recommendations intended to optimize patient care. These statements are informed by a systematic review of evidence and an assessment of the benefits and costs of alternative care options. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust examines the current state of clinical practice guidelines and how they can be improved to enhance healthcare quality and patient outcomes. Clinical practice guidelines now are ubiquitous in our healthcare system. The Guidelines International Network (GIN) database currently lists more than 3,700 guidelines from 39 countries. Developing guidelines presents a number of challenges including lack of transparent methodological practices, difficulty reconciling conflicting guidelines, and conflicts of interest. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust explores questions surrounding the quality of CPG development processes and the establishment of standards. It proposes eight standards for developing trustworthy clinical practice guidelines emphasizing transparency; management of conflict of interest ; systematic review-guideline development intersection; establishing evidence foundations for and rating strength of guideline recommendations; articulation of recommendations; external review; and updating. Clinical Practice Guidelines We Can Trust shows how clinical practice guidelines can enhance clinician and patient decision-making by translating complex scientific research findings into recommendations for clinical practice that are relevant to the individual patient encounter, instead of implementing a one size fits all approach to patient care. This book contains information directly related to the work of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ), as well as various Congressional staff and policymakers. It is a vital resource for medical specialty societies, disease advocacy groups, health professionals, private and international organizations that develop or use clinical practice guidelines, consumers, clinicians, and payers.

Health Professions Education

Author : Institute of Medicine
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 030913319X
Total Pages : 191 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis Health Professions Education by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book Health Professions Education written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-07-01 with total page 191 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Institute of Medicine study Crossing the Quality Chasm (2001) recommended that an interdisciplinary summit be held to further reform of health professions education in order to enhance quality and patient safety. Health Professions Education: A Bridge to Quality is the follow up to that summit, held in June 2002, where 150 participants across disciplines and occupations developed ideas about how to integrate a core set of competencies into health professions education. These core competencies include patient-centered care, interdisciplinary teams, evidence-based practice, quality improvement, and informatics. This book recommends a mix of approaches to health education improvement, including those related to oversight processes, the training environment, research, public reporting, and leadership. Educators, administrators, and health professionals can use this book to help achieve an approach to education that better prepares clinicians to meet both the needs of patients and the requirements of a changing health care system.

The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century

Author : Institute of Medicine
Publisher : National Academies Press
ISBN 13 : 0309133181
Total Pages : 536 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (91 download)

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Book Synopsis The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century by : Institute of Medicine

Download or read book The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century written by Institute of Medicine and published by National Academies Press. This book was released on 2003-02-01 with total page 536 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The anthrax incidents following the 9/11 terrorist attacks put the spotlight on the nation's public health agencies, placing it under an unprecedented scrutiny that added new dimensions to the complex issues considered in this report. The Future of the Public's Health in the 21st Century reaffirms the vision of Healthy People 2010, and outlines a systems approach to assuring the nation's health in practice, research, and policy. This approach focuses on joining the unique resources and perspectives of diverse sectors and entities and challenges these groups to work in a concerted, strategic way to promote and protect the public's health. Focusing on diverse partnerships as the framework for public health, the book discusses: The need for a shift from an individual to a population-based approach in practice, research, policy, and community engagement. The status of the governmental public health infrastructure and what needs to be improved, including its interface with the health care delivery system. The roles nongovernment actors, such as academia, business, local communities and the media can play in creating a healthy nation. Providing an accessible analysis, this book will be important to public health policy-makers and practitioners, business and community leaders, health advocates, educators and journalists.

Primary Health Care

Author : Trisha Greenhalgh
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118693434
Total Pages : 341 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (186 download)

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Book Synopsis Primary Health Care by : Trisha Greenhalgh

Download or read book Primary Health Care written by Trisha Greenhalgh and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2013-03-15 with total page 341 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: General practitioners and other primary care professionals have a leading role in contemporary health care, which Trisha Greenhalgh explores in this highly praised new text. She provides perceptive and engaging insights into primary health care, focussing on: its intellectual roots its impact on the individual, the family and the community the role of the multidisciplinary team contemporary topics such as homelessness, ethnic health and electronic records. Concise summaries, highlighted boxes, extensive referencing and a dedicated section on effective learning make this essential reading for postgraduate students, tutors and researchers in primary care. "Trish Greenhalgh, in her frequent columns in the British Medical Journal...more than any other medical journalist spoke to her fellow GPs in the language of experience, but never without linking this to our expanding knowledge from the whole of human science. When I compare the outlines of primary care so lucidly presented in this wonderful book, obviously derived from rich experience of real teaching and learning, with the grand guignol theatre of London medical schools when I was a student 1947-52, the advance is stunning." —From the foreword by Julian Tudor Hart "Trish Greenhalgh is one of the international stars of general practice and a very clever thinker. This new book is a wonderful resource for primary health care and general practice. Every general practice registrar should read this book and so should every general practice teacher and primary care researcher." —Professor Michael Kidd, Head of the Department of General Practice, University of Sydney and Immediate Past President of The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners "This important new book by one of primary care's most accomplished authors sets out clearly the academic basis for further developments in primary health care. Health systems will only function effectively if they recognise the importance of high quality primary care so I strongly recommend this book to students, teachers, researchers, practitioners and policy makers." —Professor Martin Marshall, Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Department of Health, UK

Behavioral Medicine A Guide for Clinical Practice 5th Edition

Author : Mitchell D. Feldman
Publisher : McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN 13 : 1260142698
Total Pages : 641 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Behavioral Medicine A Guide for Clinical Practice 5th Edition by : Mitchell D. Feldman

Download or read book Behavioral Medicine A Guide for Clinical Practice 5th Edition written by Mitchell D. Feldman and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2019-12-06 with total page 641 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The #1 guide to behavioral issues in medicine delivering thorough, practical discussion of the full scope of the physician-patient relationship "This is an extraordinarily thorough, useful book. It manages to summarize numerous topics, many of which are not a part of a traditional medical curriculum, in concise, relevant chapters."--Doody's Review Service - 5 stars, reviewing an earlier edition The goal of Behavioral Medicine is to help practitioners and students understand the interplay between psychological, physical, social and cultural issues of patients. Within its pages readers will find real-world coverage of behavioral and interactional issues that occur between provider and patient in everyday clinical practice. Readers will learn how to deliver bad news, how to conduct an effective patient interview, how to care for patients at the end of life, how to clinically manage common mental and behavioral issues in medical patients, the principles of medical professionalism, motivating behavior change, and much more. As the leading text on the subject, this trusted classic delivers the most definitive, practical overview of the behavioral, clinical, and social contexts of the physician-patient relationship. The book is case based to reinforce learning through real-world examples, focusing on issues that commonly arise in everyday medical practice and training. One of the significant elements of Behavioral Medicine is the recognition that the wellbeing of physicians and other health professionals is critically important to caring for patients.

Health Promotion

Author : Ruth Cross
Publisher : CABI
ISBN 13 : 1789245338
Total Pages : 262 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (892 download)

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Book Synopsis Health Promotion by : Ruth Cross

Download or read book Health Promotion written by Ruth Cross and published by CABI. This book was released on 2020-12-07 with total page 262 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Health promotion is a key mechanism in tackling the foremost health challenges faced by developing and developed nations. Covering key concepts, theory and practical aspects, this new edition continues to focus on the themes central to health promotion practice worldwide. Social determinants, equality and equity, policy and health, working in partnerships, sustainability, evaluation and evidence-based practice are detailed, and the critical application of health promotion to practice is outlined throughout the book. Beginning with the foundations of this important area, in this new edition the authors then place greater emphasis on the role of power within health and communities. Drawing upon international settings and teaching experience in the global North and South, it finishes with a summary of the future directions of professional health promotion practice. Placing a strong emphasis on a global context, this book provides an accessible and engaging resource for postgraduate students of health promotion, public health nursing and related subjects, health practitioners and NGOs.

Health Economics from Theory to Practice

Author : Simon Eckermann
Publisher : Springer
ISBN 13 : 3319506137
Total Pages : 339 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (195 download)

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Book Synopsis Health Economics from Theory to Practice by : Simon Eckermann

Download or read book Health Economics from Theory to Practice written by Simon Eckermann and published by Springer. This book was released on 2017-03-20 with total page 339 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This book provides a robust set of health economic principles and methods to inform societal decisions in relation to research, reimbursement and regulation (pricing and monitoring of performance in practice). We provide a theoretical and practical framework that navigates to avoid common biases and suboptimal outcomes observed in recent and current practice of health economic analysis, as opposed to claiming to be comprehensive in covering all methods. Our aim is to facilitate efficient health system decision making processes in research, reimbursement and regulation, which promote constrained optimisation of community outcomes from a societal perspective given resource constraints, available technology and processes of technology assessment. Importantly, this includes identifying an efficient process to maximize the potential that arises from research and pricing in relation to existing technology under uncertainty, given current evidence and associated opportunity costs of investment. Principles and methods are identified and illustrated across health promotion, prevention and palliative care settings as well as treatment settings. Health policy implications are also highlighted.

Health Behavior

Author : Karen Glanz
Publisher : John Wiley & Sons
ISBN 13 : 1118628985
Total Pages : 512 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (186 download)

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Book Synopsis Health Behavior by : Karen Glanz

Download or read book Health Behavior written by Karen Glanz and published by John Wiley & Sons. This book was released on 2015-07-27 with total page 512 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The essential health behavior text, updated with the latest theories, research, and issues Health Behavior: Theory, Research and Practice provides a thorough introduction to understanding and changing health behavior, core tenets of the public health role. Covering theory, applications, and research, this comprehensive book has become the gold standard of health behavior texts. This new fifth edition has been updated to reflect the most recent changes in the public health field with a focus on health behavior, including coverage of the intersection of health and community, culture, and communication, with detailed explanations of both established and emerging theories. Offering perspective applicable at the individual, interpersonal, group, and community levels, this essential guide provides the most complete coverage of the field to give public health students and practitioners an authoritative reference for both the theoretical and practical aspects of health behavior. A deep understanding of human behaviors is essential for effective public health and health care management. This guide provides the most complete, up-to-date information in the field, to give you a real-world understanding and the background knowledge to apply it successfully. Learn how e-health and social media factor into health communication Explore the link between culture and health, and the importance of community Get up to date on emerging theories of health behavior and their applications Examine the push toward evidence-based interventions, and global applications Written and edited by the leading health and social behavior theorists and researchers, Health Behavior: Theory, Research and Practice provides the information and real-world perspective that builds a solid understanding of how to analyze and improve health behaviors and health.

School Health

Author : American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781581108446
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (84 download)

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Book Synopsis School Health by : American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health

Download or read book School Health written by American Academy of Pediatrics Council on School Health and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Significantly revised and updated, the new 7th edition of School Health Policy and Practice provides pediatric health care professionals with guidelines for communicating with schools and developing health programs for school-aged children, with a focus on health and illness management as they relate to a child's educational problems and potential. Specific health issues are also addressed, including obesity, learning and discipline problems, chronic illness, school sports, STIs, pregnancy, child abuse, drug abuse, and more.

Model Rules of Professional Conduct

Author : American Bar Association. House of Delegates
Publisher : American Bar Association
ISBN 13 : 9781590318737
Total Pages : 216 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (187 download)

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Book Synopsis Model Rules of Professional Conduct by : American Bar Association. House of Delegates

Download or read book Model Rules of Professional Conduct written by American Bar Association. House of Delegates and published by American Bar Association. This book was released on 2007 with total page 216 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Model Rules of Professional Conduct provides an up-to-date resource for information on legal ethics. Federal, state and local courts in all jurisdictions look to the Rules for guidance in solving lawyer malpractice cases, disciplinary actions, disqualification issues, sanctions questions and much more. In this volume, black-letter Rules of Professional Conduct are followed by numbered Comments that explain each Rule's purpose and provide suggestions for its practical application. The Rules will help you identify proper conduct in a variety of given situations, review those instances where discretionary action is possible, and define the nature of the relationship between you and your clients, colleagues and the courts.

What Doctors Feel

Author : Danielle Ofri, MD
Publisher : Beacon Press
ISBN 13 : 0807073334
Total Pages : 267 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (7 download)

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Book Synopsis What Doctors Feel by : Danielle Ofri, MD

Download or read book What Doctors Feel written by Danielle Ofri, MD and published by Beacon Press. This book was released on 2013-06-04 with total page 267 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “A fascinating journey into the heart and mind of a physician” that explores the doctor-patient relationship, the flaws in our health care system, and how doctors’ emotions impact medical care (Boston Globe) While much has been written about the minds and methods of the medical professionals who save our lives, precious little has been said about their emotions. Physicians are assumed to be objective, rational beings, easily able to detach as they guide patients and families through some of life’s most challenging moments. But understanding doctors’ emotional responses to the life-and-death dramas of everyday practice can make all the difference on giving and getting the best medical care. Digging deep into the lives of doctors, Dr. Danielle Ofri examines the daunting range of emotions—shame, anger, empathy, frustration, hope, pride, occasionally despair, and sometimes even love—that permeate the contemporary doctor-patient connection. Drawing on scientific studies, including some surprising research, Dr. Ofri offers up an unflinching look at the impact of emotions on health care. Dr. Ofri takes us into the swirling heart of patient care, telling stories of caregivers caught up and occasionally torn down by the whirlwind life of doctoring. She admits to the humiliation of an error that nearly killed one of her patients. She mourns when a beloved patient is denied a heart transplant. She tells the riveting stories of an intern traumatized when she is forced to let a newborn die in her arms, and of a doctor whose daily glass of wine to handle the frustrations of the ER escalates into a destructive addiction. Ofri also reveals that doctors cope through gallows humor, find hope in impossible situations, and surrender to ecstatic happiness when they triumph over illness.

Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice

Author : Charles Guest
Publisher : Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN 13 : 0199586306
Total Pages : 656 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (995 download)

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Book Synopsis Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice by : Charles Guest

Download or read book Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice written by Charles Guest and published by Oxford University Press, USA. This book was released on 2013-02-28 with total page 656 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Fully revised and updated for the third edition, the Oxford Handbook of Public Health Practice remains the first resort for all those working in this broad field. Structured to assist with practical tasks, translating evidence into policy, and providing concise summaries and real-world issues from across the globe, this literally provides a world of experience at your fingertips. Easy-to-use, concise and practical, it is structured into seven parts that focus on the vital areas of assessment, data and information, direct action, policy, health-care systems, personal effectiveness and organisational development. Reflecting recent advances, the most promising developments in practical public health are presented, as well as maintaining essential summaries of core disciplines. This handbook is designed to assist students and practitioners around the world, for improved management of disasters, epidemics, health behaviour, acute and chronic disease prevention, community and government action, environmental health, vulnerable populations, and more.

Immunization in Practice

Author :
Publisher : World Health Organization
ISBN 13 : 9241549092
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (415 download)

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Book Synopsis Immunization in Practice by :

Download or read book Immunization in Practice written by and published by World Health Organization. This book was released on 2015 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This practical guide contains seven modules targeted at district and health facility staff. It intends to meet the demands to improve immunization services so as to reach more infants in a sustainable way, building upon the experiences of polio eradication. It includes materials adapted from polio on planning, monitoring and use of data to improve the service, that can be used at any level. Revising the manual has been a team exercise. There are contributions from a large number of experts, organizations and institutions. This new edition has seven modules. Several new vaccines that have become more readily available and used in recent years have been added. Also the section on integration with other health interventions has been expanded as exciting opportunities and experiences have become evident in the years following the previous edition. Module 1: Target diseases and vaccines Module 2: The vaccine cold chain Module 3: Ensuring safe injections Module 4: Microplanning for reaching every community Module 5: Managing an immunization session Module 6: Monitoring and surveillance Module 7: Partnering with communities.

Precision Community Health

Author : Bechara Choucair
Publisher : Island Press
ISBN 13 : 164283016X
Total Pages : 224 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (428 download)

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Book Synopsis Precision Community Health by : Bechara Choucair

Download or read book Precision Community Health written by Bechara Choucair and published by Island Press. This book was released on 2020-05-28 with total page 224 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When Bechara Choucair was a young doctor, he learned an important lesson: treating a patient for hypothermia does little good if she has to spend the next night out in the freezing cold. As health commissioner of Chicago, he was determined to address the societal causes of disease and focus the city’s resources on its most vulnerable populations. That targeted approach has led to dramatic successes, such as lowering rates of smoking, teen pregnancy, breast cancer mortalities, and other serious ills. In Precision Community Health, Choucair shows how those successes can be replicated and expanded around the country. The key is to use advanced technologies to identify which populations are most at risk for specific health threats and avert crises before they begin. Big data makes precision community health possible. But in our increasingly complex world, we also need new strategies for developing effective coalitions, media campaigns, and policies. This book showcases four innovations that move public health departments away from simply dispensing medical care and toward supporting communities to achieve true well-being. The approach Choucair pioneered in Chicago requires broadening our thinking about what constitutes public health. It is not simply about access to a doctor, but access to decent housing, jobs, parks, food, and social support. It also means acknowledging that a one-size-fits-all strategy may exacerbate inequities. By focusing on those most in need, we create an agenda that is simultaneously more impactful and more achievable. The result is a wholesale change in the way public health is practiced and in the well-being of all our communities.

Improving Healthcare Quality in Europe Characteristics, Effectiveness and Implementation of Different Strategies

Author : OECD
Publisher : OECD Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9264805907
Total Pages : 447 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (648 download)

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Book Synopsis Improving Healthcare Quality in Europe Characteristics, Effectiveness and Implementation of Different Strategies by : OECD

Download or read book Improving Healthcare Quality in Europe Characteristics, Effectiveness and Implementation of Different Strategies written by OECD and published by OECD Publishing. This book was released on 2019-10-17 with total page 447 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This volume, developed by the Observatory together with OECD, provides an overall conceptual framework for understanding and applying strategies aimed at improving quality of care. Crucially, it summarizes available evidence on different quality strategies and provides recommendations for their implementation. This book is intended to help policy-makers to understand concepts of quality and to support them to evaluate single strategies and combinations of strategies.

Better Now

Author : Dr. Danielle Martin
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0735232601
Total Pages : 310 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (352 download)

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Book Synopsis Better Now by : Dr. Danielle Martin

Download or read book Better Now written by Dr. Danielle Martin and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-01-10 with total page 310 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Longlisted for British Columbia's National Award for Canadian Non-Fiction 2018 Dr. Danielle Martin sees the challenges in our health care system every day. As a family doctor and a hospital vice president, she observes how those deficiencies adversely affect patients. And as a health policy expert, she knows how to close those gaps. A passionate believer in the value of fairness that underpins the Canadian health care system, Dr. Martin is on a mission to improve medicare. In Better Now, she shows how bold fixes are both achievable and affordable. Her patients’ stories and her own family’s experiences illustrate the evidence she presents about what works best to improve health care for all. Better Now outlines “Six Big Ideas” to bolster Canada’s health care system. Each one is centred on a typical Canadian patient, making it clear how close to home these issues strike. · Ensure every Canadian has regular access to a family doctor or other primary care provider · Bring prescription drugs under medicare · Reduce unnecessary tests and interventions · Reorganize health care delivery to reduce wait times and improve quality · Implement a basic income guarantee to alleviate poverty, which is a major threat to health · Scale up successful local innovations to a national level Passionate, accessible, and authoritative, Dr. Martin is a fervent supporter of the best of medicare and a persuasive critic of what needs fixing.

An American Sickness

Author : Elisabeth Rosenthal
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 0698407180
Total Pages : 434 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (984 download)

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Book Synopsis An American Sickness by : Elisabeth Rosenthal

Download or read book An American Sickness written by Elisabeth Rosenthal and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-04-11 with total page 434 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A New York Times bestseller/Washington Post Notable Book of 2017/NPR Best Books of 2017/Wall Street Journal Best Books of 2017 "This book will serve as the definitive guide to the past and future of health care in America.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene At a moment of drastic political upheaval, An American Sickness is a shocking investigation into our dysfunctional healthcare system - and offers practical solutions to its myriad problems. In these troubled times, perhaps no institution has unraveled more quickly and more completely than American medicine. In only a few decades, the medical system has been overrun by organizations seeking to exploit for profit the trust that vulnerable and sick Americans place in their healthcare. Our politicians have proven themselves either unwilling or incapable of reining in the increasingly outrageous costs faced by patients, and market-based solutions only seem to funnel larger and larger sums of our money into the hands of corporations. Impossibly high insurance premiums and inexplicably large bills have become facts of life; fatalism has set in. Very quickly Americans have been made to accept paying more for less. How did things get so bad so fast? Breaking down this monolithic business into the individual industries—the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers—that together constitute our healthcare system, Rosenthal exposes the recent evolution of American medicine as never before. How did healthcare, the caring endeavor, become healthcare, the highly profitable industry? Hospital systems, which are managed by business executives, behave like predatory lenders, hounding patients and seizing their homes. Research charities are in bed with big pharmaceutical companies, which surreptitiously profit from the donations made by working people. Patients receive bills in code, from entrepreneurial doctors they never even saw. The system is in tatters, but we can fight back. Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms, she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. In clear and practical terms, she spells out exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship and to hospital C-suites, explaining step-by-step the workings of a system badly lacking transparency. This is about what we can do, as individual patients, both to navigate the maze that is American healthcare and also to demand far-reaching reform. An American Sickness is the frontline defense against a healthcare system that no longer has our well-being at heart.