Critical Condition with Hedrick Smith: How Good is Your Health Care?

In this 4-part series, Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Hedrick Smith takes an unbiased in-depth look at the complex issues surrounding the American healthcare system. In the first volume, The Chronically Ill: Pain, Profit, and Managed Care, Hedrick examines the dilemma health management organizations encounter in using 80% of their resources to treat 10% of the population. Since HMOs that don't make a profit for their stockholders go out of business, the chronically and critically ill (whose care is the most costly) either get their services cut or the cost of premiums rises for everyone. Volume two, The Idealistic HMO: Can Good Care Survive the Market? profiles Kaiser Permanente, the largest non-profit HMO in the United States. After 50 years of operating on a service model, they tried to become an economic competitor and nearly went bankrupt. After reverting back to emphasizing quality care, Kaiser recovered financially, but not without having to raise premiums to the point where the California based company is now one of the most expensive in the state. The third volume, The Uninsured: Forty-Four Million Forgotten Americans, looks at the increasing number of people whose employers do not offer healthcare coverage and can not afford to buy it on their own, while the final volume, The Quality Gap: Medicine's Secret Killer, examines deaths and injuries resulting from healthcare provider error, or lack of expertise, highlighting areas in the country where changes to improve care are being implemented. In New York, for example, a report on physician and hospital performance showing mortality rates for open-heart surgery patients forced doctors and hospitals to examine their practices, improve training, and encourage communication between surgical team members. This outstanding series presents a non-judgmental look at critical issues surrounding the current American healthcare system, clearly pointing out the flaws while reminding us that recognizing problems is the first step in finding solutions. Highly recommended. Editor's Choice. Aud: H, C, P. (L. Stevens)