The U.S. Healthcare System (PDF)

Provides a diverse, multi-faceted approach to health care evaluation and management

The U.S. Health Care System: Origins, Organization and Opportunities provides a comprehensive introduction and resource for understanding healthcare management in the United States. It brings together the many "moving parts" of this large and varied system to provide both a bird's-eye view as well as relevant details of the complex mechanisms at work. By focusing on stakeholders and their interests, this book analyzes the value propositions of the buyers and sellers of healthcare products and services along with the interests of patients.

The book begins with a presentation of frameworks for understanding the structure of the healthcare system and its dynamic stakeholder inter-relationships. The chapters that follow each begin with their social and historical origins, so the reader can fully appreciate how that area evolved. The next sections on each topic describe the current environment and opportunities for improvement.

Throughout, the learning objectives focus on three areas: frameworks for understanding issues, essential factual knowledge, and resources to keep the reader keep up to date.

Healthcare is a rapidly evolving field, due to the regulatory and business environments as well as the advance of science. To keep the content current, online updates are provided at: healthcareinsights.md. This website also offers a weekday blog of important/interesting news and teaching notes/class discussion suggestions for instructors who use the book as a text.

The U.S. Health Care System: Origins, Organization and Opportunities is an ideal textbook for healthcare courses in MBA, MPH, MHA, and public policy/administration programs. In piloting the content, over the past several years the author has successfully used drafts of chapters in his Healthcare Systems course for MBA and MPH students at Northwestern University. The book is also useful for novice or seasoned suppliers, payers and providers who work across the healthcare field and want a wider or deeper understanding of the entire system.