Description
A wide range of managerial challenges in healthcare, from decisions on what reimbursement levels to accept to how to deal with social determinants of health, could benefit from economic insights. This book for professionals in medical services, insurance and public healthcare emphasises intuition and common sense, making the concepts of health economics more relatable and actionable. It also challenges conventional wisdom, debunking myths and suggesting innovative solutions to industry challenges. For each problem, the book suggests actions managers should or should not take, when to seek new information, and how to interpret it. Economic analysis and research suggest novel answers to questions like whether to raise private insurer prices when Medicare cuts what it pays, when to accept a particular reimbursement offer, or how to manage patients with high-deductible insurance. The book highlights the impact on healthcare costs and efficiency of issues such as moral hazard, cost-sharing and price setting.
Table of Contents
Preface: what managers should do; 1. Management mission impossible: my care is okay, but the system is broken; 2. Ideal decisions with and about evidence; 3: The managerial problem with primary care: coaching the quarterback of a team of cats; 4. Doctors and hospitals: can we please get along?; 5. How good can we be? How big should we be? Should we try to conquer the world?; 6. Dancing in the dark: managing with moral hazard, adverse selection, and other information imperfections; 7. Managing insurance and managing with insurance; 8. Cost effectiveness and insurance coverage: messages for true believers; 9. Value-based everything in health care: what is beyond slogans?; 10. Pricing that violates economic law: how to learn to love price discrimination; 11. Who is the buyer of insured medical care?; 12. Competition, antitrust, and regulation in hospital and health care markets; 13. Cost containment; 14. Drugs: of golden eggs, outrage, and what to do when you don't have a clue; 15. Social determinants of health and health spending: can health care change the world?; 16: Conclusion: don'ts, do's and debunks from economics.
