Can Hospital Chains Improve the Medical Industry?

Restaurant chains flash freeze, then microwave their entrees.<p>I don't see what "innovation" and "quality" has to do with anything but their many ways to utilize HFCS and massive calories/portion sizes. Supply chain, perhaps. But the food output is absolutely terrible in the international chains. Cheesecake Factory, TGIFriday's, Bennigan's all make consistent dishes, but consistently ~bad~.

Web based technologies will play a vital role in standardizing at-least primary care and routine procedures. Will also help doctors provide more quality and personalized medicine.<p>Lack of data and transparency are the two huge factors holding back health care.<p>You can find a doctor and book an appointment but if you need a surgeon what matters is the Complication Rate and not the no of reviews of office visits.<p>This kind of decision making data is simply lacking or un-avialble to the public.<p>there is a lot of depth to this discussion as always with health care but simply put in the current state of affairs Health Care is too fragmented and non-communicative in itself.<p>We need to create a single platform of interconnected technologies the communicate among each other to solve this and use patient engagement to help doctors provide more personalized medicine.

I dunno, it seems like so much heat and light is wasted in America trying to 'figure out' health care. There are lots of countries that have figured out health care. Just study the best practice and put together a viable system.<p>If you want the absolute best return in units of health care per dollar spent then the New Zealand system was the most efficient last time I looked.

It is tough to compare a healthcare "market" to any other market. Fundamentally, healthcare is a good that <i>nobody will voluntarily want,</i> but that <i>everyone is going to need</i> at some point. Furthermore, it does not lend itself for easy consumer evaluation. Imagine if doctors were reviewed on Yelp, and you saw a review that said, "My sister had cancer and this doctor performed the surgery to remove her tumor. Six months later, she died. One star." Did the doctor botch the surgery? Did the doctor actually perform a miraculous operation, giving someone on death's door and full six months of life? And is this something you really feel equipped to compare like whether you want the double cheeseburger at McDonalds or Wendy's?<p>We could also get into the further perverse incentives specific to the US healthcare system, but I've yet to see a fundamental argument about how efficient market forces can work Adam Smith's magic on healthcare.

Within the individual restaurants, the Cheesecake Factory hires people who consider themselves "cooks", not "chefs". "Chefs" would not/could not work there, except possibly in the corporate kitchens, developing restaurants. It's tougher for health care chains, especially when dealing with those who consider themselves "specialists" after years of specialized training. And what about the demi-gods also known as surgeons?

This sounds an awful lot like things that have been going on with development/operations lately. Standardize configs, record best practices, etc.

This is, in my opinion, a very very good idea for someone with the guts to crack it.