Where Does It Hurt?

An Entrepreneur's Guide to Fixing Health Care

By: Jonathan Bush, Stephen Baker

Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor

A bold new remedy for the sprawling and wasteful health care industry. Where else but the doctor's office do you have to fill out a form on a clipboard? Have you noticed that hospital bills are almost unintelligible, except for the absurdly high dollar amount? Why is it that technology in other industries drive prices down, but in health care it's the reverse? And why, in health care, is the customer so often treated as a mere bystander - and an ignorant one at that? The same American medical establishment that saves lives and performs wondrous miracles is also a $2.7 trillion industry in deep dysfunction. And now, with the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), it is called on to extend full benefits to tens of millions of newly insured. You might think that this would leave us with a bleak choice - either to devote more of our national budget to health care or to make do with less of it. But there's another path.

In this provocative book, Jonathan Bush, cofounder and CEO of athenahealth, calls for a revolution in health care to give customers more choices, freedom, power, and information, and at far lower prices.

You’ll learn how:

• Well-intended government regulations prop up overpriced incumbents and slow the pace of innovation.
• Focused, profit-driven disrupters are chipping away at the dominance of hospitals by offering routine procedures at lower cost.
• Scrappy digital start-ups are equipping providers and patients with new apps and technologies to access medical data and take control of care.
• Making informed choices about the care we receive and pay for will enable a more humane and satisfying health care system to emerge.

Bush's plan calls for Americans not only to demand more from providers but also to accept more responsibility for our health, to weigh risks and make hard choices - in short, to take back control of an industry that is central to our lives and our economy.

©2014 Jonathan Bush and Stephen Baker (P)2014 Gildan Media LLC

Critic reviews

"This is a compelling, entertaining story—an insider’s perspective on American health care by someone who has been closely involved in its reshaping. Few people amass Jonathan Bush’s kind of experience or articulate as clearly what lies ahead." (Abraham Verghese, physician and author of Cutting for Stone)

if this ain't JBush, nothing is. Spot on.

I found myself saying "Exactly!" over and over. Same as Gawande said about Bob Wachter's "Digital Doctor," which I also love. Bush is crazy and right.

Note - in a different industry (typesetting) I was disrupted 30 years ago (by desktop publishing), so I know the signs and I know how incumbents can't see it coming. Power to the users!

Data?

Unfortunately data is not all it takes. Great ideas but misguided. Should have interviewed more prating physicians not only administrators.

Really enjoyed this book

Appreciated very much that the candid though biased approach of the book. Unique point of views articulated very well about different parts of the industry.
Provides a great guide for innovation for the next few years.

Very thought provoking

I am very involved in health care IT and I have to say this was an excellent book. Very accurate and thought provoking.

Superb and Informative Reading

Has the drive and data of Tom Peters’ Liberation Management and the soul of Tracy Kidder’s Soul of a New Machine. Thank you.