The Long Fix: Solving America’s Health Care Crisis with Strategies that Work for Everyone

Lee draws upon her experience as a physician and health care administrator to present a plan for remaking the U.S. medical industry. She argues that the current fee-for-service model inflates costs by rewarding the number of tests and procedures performed; currently, doctors have a financial incentive to overtreat patients. She maintains that we would be far better served by paying for results. Care should be standardized based on evidence: which treatments produce the best outcomes? The true cost of procedures and prescriptions should be transparent to patients, she continues, and every aspect of the payment system should be simplified and standardized. Existing electronic health records hold vast amounts of data that should be mined to provide patients with information about which doctors and procedures have the best outcomes for the least cost. Lee presents the Military Health System and the Veterans Health Administration, not Medicare, as the best models for government-managed health care. Each chapter ends with action plans for patients, physicians, payers, and policymakers to improve the nation’s health.