Health Care Costs Are Rising, but What's the Problem?

"There's something wrong with medicine," says the author, who highlights the rising costs and lack of value in healthcare. Studies show that a significant portion of healthcare services, ranging from tests to procedures, provide no benefit or are even harmful. The lack of a system to measure and improve patient outcomes is a major issue. For example, back surgery for pain has been shown to provide no long-term benefit. The author suggests deploying systems to track patient outcomes and managing against specific targets to ensure significant benefits from operations. Currently, managing healthcare in a systematic and effective way remains a challenge."