Disease, diagnoses, and dollars: facing the ever-expanding market for medical care

Disease, Diagnoses, and Dollars is about the costs of health care and their impact on health. The U.S. health care system is the largest sector in the biggest economy, and the US spends significantly more per capita on health care than any other country, yet it ranks last among comparison nations on the major health indicators. Within the U.S., there is evidence that regions that spend more do not have better outcomes, and some evidence suggests that quality of care is lower in the regions that spend more, not less, on health care. Robert Kaplan takes the controversial position that mass markets have been created for services that may offer little or no benefit to patients. Many of these markets are for preventive medicine, making healthy people a market for expensive pharmaceutical products and tests. These include cancer screening tests and medications to control blood pressure, cholesterol, and glucose. Kaplan forcefully argues that the overuse of medications and tests runs up the costs of health care Controversial as it questions the foundations of preventive medicine Timely criticism of the health care industry and the costs of health care Challenges established definitions of disease, specifically in cancer, cholesterol, diabetes, obesity INDICE: Chapter 1: Disease, Drugs and Money.- Chapter 2: The Disease-Reservoir Hypothesis.- Chapter 3: Mental Models of Health and Healthcare.- Chapter 4: What is Disease and When does it Begin?.- Chapter 5: Screening for Cancer.-Chapter 6: Deciding When Blood Pressure Is Too High.- Chapter 7: The Cholesterol Cutoff.- Chapter 8: Diabetes, Obesity, and the Metabolic Syndrome.- Chapter 9: Costs-Effectiveness and Opportunity Costs.- Chapter 10: Shared Medical Decision-Making.- Chapter 11: Putting the Pieces Together.

• ISBN: 978-0-387-74044-7
• Editorial: Springer
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 210
• Fecha Publicación: 01/11/2008
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés