ABSTRACT
In the preceding chapters, nine factors have been identified that individually and collectively create a level of complexity for the health care industry that sets it apart from every other industry in our country’s economy. In the end, complexity has many implications:
Makes it more difficult to understand how the industry “works”
Leads to a lack of clarity regarding overall goals and direction
Provides opportunities for politicians, administrators, clinicians and patients to hold very different understandings about “cause and effect”
Presents significant challenges on the ability to transfer many common business practices to health care
Slows the adoption of new technologies, techniques, processes and policies
Permits ideology to drive both internal and external decision-making, leading to very different (and often strongly held) views about who should have access to health care services and who should pay for them212
Creates high levels of frustration among politicians seeking to lower costs, administrators seeking to manage complex institutions and clinicians and patients looking for better outcomes
