Author: Thomas J. Williams
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781533238375
Category : Medical care
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
This Glossary is designed as an easy-to-use reference. In Part 1 users will find Business and Clinical words that are commonly used within medicine, insurance, finance, supply chain and clinical research defined within the context of the hospital and their related entities. Also included is a detailed listing of medical specialties. Part 2 contains a Healthcare Personnel Glossary that describes the most common titles of hospital personnel along with a brief overview of their job. It is not an all-inclusive healthcare personnel dictionary because titles, roles and responsibilities often differ between hospitals of various sizes and within healthcare systems. In addition, there are differences in titles between community hospitals and teaching hospitals. The latter includes teaching titles and research titles which we deliberately did not add to this missive. Instead, we have provided the most common listing of job titles of personnel working within hospitals and associated healthcare entities. Because physician practices are being purchased by hospitals we did include those. There are Four Appendices to assist the reader. Appendix 1 describes the most frequently used Acronyms and Medical Industry Abbreviations. Appendix 2 provides a short list of Anatomical Terms. Appendix 3 lists several Healthcare Agencies and Organizations that sellers may encounter in their discussions with healthcare personnel. Appendix 4 is a brief list of Prescription Terms.
Selling to Hospitals and Healthcare Organizations
Author: Thomas J. Williams
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781533238375
Category : Medical care
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
This Glossary is designed as an easy-to-use reference. In Part 1 users will find Business and Clinical words that are commonly used within medicine, insurance, finance, supply chain and clinical research defined within the context of the hospital and their related entities. Also included is a detailed listing of medical specialties. Part 2 contains a Healthcare Personnel Glossary that describes the most common titles of hospital personnel along with a brief overview of their job. It is not an all-inclusive healthcare personnel dictionary because titles, roles and responsibilities often differ between hospitals of various sizes and within healthcare systems. In addition, there are differences in titles between community hospitals and teaching hospitals. The latter includes teaching titles and research titles which we deliberately did not add to this missive. Instead, we have provided the most common listing of job titles of personnel working within hospitals and associated healthcare entities. Because physician practices are being purchased by hospitals we did include those. There are Four Appendices to assist the reader. Appendix 1 describes the most frequently used Acronyms and Medical Industry Abbreviations. Appendix 2 provides a short list of Anatomical Terms. Appendix 3 lists several Healthcare Agencies and Organizations that sellers may encounter in their discussions with healthcare personnel. Appendix 4 is a brief list of Prescription Terms.
Publisher: Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
ISBN: 9781533238375
Category : Medical care
Languages : en
Pages : 296
Book Description
This Glossary is designed as an easy-to-use reference. In Part 1 users will find Business and Clinical words that are commonly used within medicine, insurance, finance, supply chain and clinical research defined within the context of the hospital and their related entities. Also included is a detailed listing of medical specialties. Part 2 contains a Healthcare Personnel Glossary that describes the most common titles of hospital personnel along with a brief overview of their job. It is not an all-inclusive healthcare personnel dictionary because titles, roles and responsibilities often differ between hospitals of various sizes and within healthcare systems. In addition, there are differences in titles between community hospitals and teaching hospitals. The latter includes teaching titles and research titles which we deliberately did not add to this missive. Instead, we have provided the most common listing of job titles of personnel working within hospitals and associated healthcare entities. Because physician practices are being purchased by hospitals we did include those. There are Four Appendices to assist the reader. Appendix 1 describes the most frequently used Acronyms and Medical Industry Abbreviations. Appendix 2 provides a short list of Anatomical Terms. Appendix 3 lists several Healthcare Agencies and Organizations that sellers may encounter in their discussions with healthcare personnel. Appendix 4 is a brief list of Prescription Terms.
Selling Immunity Self, Culture and Economy in Healthcare and Medicine
Author: Mark Davis
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000542130
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 157
Book Description
Selling Immunity Self, Culture and Economy in Healthcare and Medicine provides a groundbreaking study of the ways in which immunity shapes life. Through its up-to-date discussion of immunity cultures, alongside detailed real-world examples, the book demonstrates how immunity is enmeshed in concepts of possessive individualism, self-defence and health consumerism. The book explores the rich metaphorical powers of immunity and the life narratives it inspires with reference to the talk of scientists, immunology texts and popular science magazines. The author provides a detailed overview of the ways in which digital media can shape the immune self with reference to cultural and social theories, providing insight into how immunitary knowledge and products are consumed and the benefits and drawbacks this has for healthcare. The book considers the significance of immunity for individuals navigating the threats to health that arise with pandemics and superbugs, with a keen look into how these ideas surface in everyday life across the globe. Finally, the book also discusses economic bases of healthcare technologies bent towards the protection and restoration of immunity. This book is essential reading for professionals within the fields of psychology, sociology, biomedical science, healthcare and other related disciplines. A broader audience will appreciate the book’s attention on the ways immunity is understood to be a personal possession, an object of life craft, and the basis for healthcare consumerism.
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1000542130
Category : Psychology
Languages : en
Pages : 157
Book Description
Selling Immunity Self, Culture and Economy in Healthcare and Medicine provides a groundbreaking study of the ways in which immunity shapes life. Through its up-to-date discussion of immunity cultures, alongside detailed real-world examples, the book demonstrates how immunity is enmeshed in concepts of possessive individualism, self-defence and health consumerism. The book explores the rich metaphorical powers of immunity and the life narratives it inspires with reference to the talk of scientists, immunology texts and popular science magazines. The author provides a detailed overview of the ways in which digital media can shape the immune self with reference to cultural and social theories, providing insight into how immunitary knowledge and products are consumed and the benefits and drawbacks this has for healthcare. The book considers the significance of immunity for individuals navigating the threats to health that arise with pandemics and superbugs, with a keen look into how these ideas surface in everyday life across the globe. Finally, the book also discusses economic bases of healthcare technologies bent towards the protection and restoration of immunity. This book is essential reading for professionals within the fields of psychology, sociology, biomedical science, healthcare and other related disciplines. A broader audience will appreciate the book’s attention on the ways immunity is understood to be a personal possession, an object of life craft, and the basis for healthcare consumerism.
Selling Healthcare
Author: Gary Polsky
Publisher: Que Publishing
ISBN: 013343544X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
800x600 Build the Healthcare Sales Relationships That Power Enduring Success Healthcare salespeople have immense opportunities. But enduring success demands more than training and great products. You need High-Return Relationships: pre-qualified connections elevated by genuine shared passions and a long-term outlook. Selling Healthcare will help you build those relationships. It leverages decades of experience in healthcare sales and management, and it’s packed with insights from healthcare sales pros—in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, hospice, home health, and beyond. Whether you sell to hospital executives, doctors, office staffs, nursing home directors, or anyone in healthcare, these techniques work. They create genuine loyalty, real trust, and phenomenal growth! Leverage these core traits: Laser focus A sense of urgency An agendaless presence Excellence in communication and research Master these 5 strategies: 1. Project a magnetic presence that inspires interpersonal connections 2. Light the spark of rapport to stimulate the heartbeat of the High-Return Relationship 3. Listen to understand by putting your selfish agenda aside 4. Show appreciation, admiration, and respect to connect with your customer’s heart and head 5. Create Relationship Development plans that script the unfolding of your High-Return Relationships
Publisher: Que Publishing
ISBN: 013343544X
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 170
Book Description
800x600 Build the Healthcare Sales Relationships That Power Enduring Success Healthcare salespeople have immense opportunities. But enduring success demands more than training and great products. You need High-Return Relationships: pre-qualified connections elevated by genuine shared passions and a long-term outlook. Selling Healthcare will help you build those relationships. It leverages decades of experience in healthcare sales and management, and it’s packed with insights from healthcare sales pros—in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, hospice, home health, and beyond. Whether you sell to hospital executives, doctors, office staffs, nursing home directors, or anyone in healthcare, these techniques work. They create genuine loyalty, real trust, and phenomenal growth! Leverage these core traits: Laser focus A sense of urgency An agendaless presence Excellence in communication and research Master these 5 strategies: 1. Project a magnetic presence that inspires interpersonal connections 2. Light the spark of rapport to stimulate the heartbeat of the High-Return Relationship 3. Listen to understand by putting your selfish agenda aside 4. Show appreciation, admiration, and respect to connect with your customer’s heart and head 5. Create Relationship Development plans that script the unfolding of your High-Return Relationships
Healthcare Value Selling
Author: Christopher D. Provines
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780991048601
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Book Description
Salespeople and commercial leaders face a significant challenge and big opportunity. Purchasing in healthcare is undergoing a fundamental shift. Buying decisions, once driven by individual clinicians, are increasingly being made by data-driven committees, cost-driven administrators, and sophisticated buyers. The hospital supply chain and purchasing organization is growing into a powerful force, and is deploying sourcing tactics to gain unprecedented discounts and bring clearer transparency to value. Selling in this new healthcare market in the same old way is a recipe for price erosion, declining margins, frustrated salespeople, and dissatisfied customers. Based on extensive experience and research, this is a practical guide that provides salespeople and commercial teams with the insights to approach economic buyers with renewed confidence. It provides proven strategies and tools to educate customers, sell your value, and defend your value against tough buyers. This book will prove to be an invaluable source of ideas, strategies and tools for healthcare sales professionals, marketing teams, and executives responsible for leading winning commercial organizations.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780991048601
Category : Business & Economics
Languages : en
Pages : 232
Book Description
Salespeople and commercial leaders face a significant challenge and big opportunity. Purchasing in healthcare is undergoing a fundamental shift. Buying decisions, once driven by individual clinicians, are increasingly being made by data-driven committees, cost-driven administrators, and sophisticated buyers. The hospital supply chain and purchasing organization is growing into a powerful force, and is deploying sourcing tactics to gain unprecedented discounts and bring clearer transparency to value. Selling in this new healthcare market in the same old way is a recipe for price erosion, declining margins, frustrated salespeople, and dissatisfied customers. Based on extensive experience and research, this is a practical guide that provides salespeople and commercial teams with the insights to approach economic buyers with renewed confidence. It provides proven strategies and tools to educate customers, sell your value, and defend your value against tough buyers. This book will prove to be an invaluable source of ideas, strategies and tools for healthcare sales professionals, marketing teams, and executives responsible for leading winning commercial organizations.
Our Bodies, Our Data
Author: Adam Tanner
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807033359
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
How the hidden trade in our sensitive medical information became a multibillion-dollar business, but has done little to improve our health-care outcomes Hidden to consumers, patient medical data has become a multibillion-dollar worldwide trade industry between our health-care providers, drug companies, and a complex web of middlemen. This great medical-data bazaar sells copies of the prescription you recently filled, your hospital records, insurance claims, blood-test results, and more, stripped of your name but possibly with identifiers such as year of birth, gender, and doctor. As computing grows ever more sophisticated, patient dossiers become increasingly vulnerable to reidentification and the possibility of being targeted by identity thieves or hackers. Paradoxically, comprehensive electronic files for patient treatment—the reason medical data exists in the first place—remain an elusive goal. Even today, patients or their doctors rarely have easy access to comprehensive records that could improve care. In the evolution of medical data, the instinct for profit has outstripped patient needs. This book tells the human, behind-the-scenes story of how such a system evolved internationally. It begins with New York advertising man Ludwig Wolfgang Frohlich, who founded IMS Health, the world’s dominant health-data miner, in the 1950s. IMS Health now gathers patient medical data from more than 45 billion transactions annually from 780,000 data feeds in more than 100 countries. Our Bodies, Our Data uncovers some of Frohlich’s hidden past and follows the story of what happened in the following decades. This is both a story about medicine and medical practice, and about big business and maximizing profits, and the places these meet, places most patients would like to believe are off-limits. Our Bodies, Our Data seeks to spark debate on how we can best balance the promise big data offers to advance medicine and improve lives while preserving the rights and interests of every patient. We, the public, deserve a say in this discussion. After all, it’s our data.
Publisher: Beacon Press
ISBN: 0807033359
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 226
Book Description
How the hidden trade in our sensitive medical information became a multibillion-dollar business, but has done little to improve our health-care outcomes Hidden to consumers, patient medical data has become a multibillion-dollar worldwide trade industry between our health-care providers, drug companies, and a complex web of middlemen. This great medical-data bazaar sells copies of the prescription you recently filled, your hospital records, insurance claims, blood-test results, and more, stripped of your name but possibly with identifiers such as year of birth, gender, and doctor. As computing grows ever more sophisticated, patient dossiers become increasingly vulnerable to reidentification and the possibility of being targeted by identity thieves or hackers. Paradoxically, comprehensive electronic files for patient treatment—the reason medical data exists in the first place—remain an elusive goal. Even today, patients or their doctors rarely have easy access to comprehensive records that could improve care. In the evolution of medical data, the instinct for profit has outstripped patient needs. This book tells the human, behind-the-scenes story of how such a system evolved internationally. It begins with New York advertising man Ludwig Wolfgang Frohlich, who founded IMS Health, the world’s dominant health-data miner, in the 1950s. IMS Health now gathers patient medical data from more than 45 billion transactions annually from 780,000 data feeds in more than 100 countries. Our Bodies, Our Data uncovers some of Frohlich’s hidden past and follows the story of what happened in the following decades. This is both a story about medicine and medical practice, and about big business and maximizing profits, and the places these meet, places most patients would like to believe are off-limits. Our Bodies, Our Data seeks to spark debate on how we can best balance the promise big data offers to advance medicine and improve lives while preserving the rights and interests of every patient. We, the public, deserve a say in this discussion. After all, it’s our data.
For-Profit Enterprise in Health Care
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309036437
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 580
Book Description
"[This book is] the most authoritative assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of recent trends toward the commercialization of health care," says Robert Pear of The New York Times. This major study by the Institute of Medicine examines virtually all aspects of for-profit health care in the United States, including the quality and availability of health care, the cost of medical care, access to financial capital, implications for education and research, and the fiduciary role of the physician. In addition to the report, the book contains 15 papers by experts in the field of for-profit health care covering a broad range of topicsâ€"from trends in the growth of major investor-owned hospital companies to the ethical issues in for-profit health care. "The report makes a lasting contribution to the health policy literature." â€"Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.
Publisher: National Academies Press
ISBN: 0309036437
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 580
Book Description
"[This book is] the most authoritative assessment of the advantages and disadvantages of recent trends toward the commercialization of health care," says Robert Pear of The New York Times. This major study by the Institute of Medicine examines virtually all aspects of for-profit health care in the United States, including the quality and availability of health care, the cost of medical care, access to financial capital, implications for education and research, and the fiduciary role of the physician. In addition to the report, the book contains 15 papers by experts in the field of for-profit health care covering a broad range of topicsâ€"from trends in the growth of major investor-owned hospital companies to the ethical issues in for-profit health care. "The report makes a lasting contribution to the health policy literature." â€"Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law.
Selling Sickness
Author: Ray Moynihan
Publisher: Greystone Books
ISBN: 1926706684
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 171
Book Description
In this hard-hitting indictment of the pharmaceutical industry, Ray Moynihan and Allan Cassels show how drug companies are systematically using their dominating influence in the world of medical science, drug companies are working to widen the very boundaries that define illness. Mild problems are redefined as serious illness, and common complaints are labeled as medical conditions requiring drug treatments. Runny noses are now allergic rhinitis, PMS has become a psychiatric disorder, and hyperactive children have ADD. Selling Sickness reveals how expanding the boundaries of illness and lowering the threshold for treatments is creating millions of new patients and billions in new profits, in turn threatening to bankrupt national healthcare systems all over the world. This Canadian edition includes an introduction placing the issue in a Canadian context and describing why Canadians should be concerned about the problem.
Publisher: Greystone Books
ISBN: 1926706684
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 171
Book Description
In this hard-hitting indictment of the pharmaceutical industry, Ray Moynihan and Allan Cassels show how drug companies are systematically using their dominating influence in the world of medical science, drug companies are working to widen the very boundaries that define illness. Mild problems are redefined as serious illness, and common complaints are labeled as medical conditions requiring drug treatments. Runny noses are now allergic rhinitis, PMS has become a psychiatric disorder, and hyperactive children have ADD. Selling Sickness reveals how expanding the boundaries of illness and lowering the threshold for treatments is creating millions of new patients and billions in new profits, in turn threatening to bankrupt national healthcare systems all over the world. This Canadian edition includes an introduction placing the issue in a Canadian context and describing why Canadians should be concerned about the problem.
The Price We Pay
Author: Marty Makary
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1635574129
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
New York Times bestseller Business Book of the Year--Association of Business Journalists From the New York Times bestselling author comes an eye-opening, urgent look at America's broken health care system--and the people who are saving it--now with a new Afterword by the author. "A must-read for every American." --Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief, FORBES One in five Americans now has medical debt in collections and rising health care costs today threaten every small business in America. Dr. Makary, one of the nation's leading health care experts, travels across America and details why health care has become a bubble. Drawing from on-the-ground stories, his research, and his own experience, The Price We Pay paints a vivid picture of the business of medicine and its elusive money games in need of a serious shake-up. Dr. Makary shows how so much of health care spending goes to things that have nothing to do with health and what you can do about it. Dr. Makary challenges the medical establishment to remember medicine's noble heritage of caring for people when they are vulnerable. The Price We Pay offers a road map for everyday Americans and business leaders to get a better deal on their health care, and profiles the disruptors who are innovating medical care. The movement to restore medicine to its mission, Makary argues, is alive and well--a mission that can rebuild the public trust and save our country from the crushing cost of health care.
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1635574129
Category : Health & Fitness
Languages : en
Pages : 305
Book Description
New York Times bestseller Business Book of the Year--Association of Business Journalists From the New York Times bestselling author comes an eye-opening, urgent look at America's broken health care system--and the people who are saving it--now with a new Afterword by the author. "A must-read for every American." --Steve Forbes, editor-in-chief, FORBES One in five Americans now has medical debt in collections and rising health care costs today threaten every small business in America. Dr. Makary, one of the nation's leading health care experts, travels across America and details why health care has become a bubble. Drawing from on-the-ground stories, his research, and his own experience, The Price We Pay paints a vivid picture of the business of medicine and its elusive money games in need of a serious shake-up. Dr. Makary shows how so much of health care spending goes to things that have nothing to do with health and what you can do about it. Dr. Makary challenges the medical establishment to remember medicine's noble heritage of caring for people when they are vulnerable. The Price We Pay offers a road map for everyday Americans and business leaders to get a better deal on their health care, and profiles the disruptors who are innovating medical care. The movement to restore medicine to its mission, Makary argues, is alive and well--a mission that can rebuild the public trust and save our country from the crushing cost of health care.
Cash-Pay Healthcare
Author: Stewart Gandolf Mba
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780998031507
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
This is a book for every healthcare practitioner-from every discipline-who is seeking to create a more meaningful, direct, and satisfying type of interaction with patients. At its foundation lies cash-pay healthcare and a return to the basic principles of commerce. You deliver services and products, and an experience that patients feel good about paying for with their hard-earned cash. This may involve a new payment structure, such as membership, concierge, hybrid, or direct pay; or it may be augmenting your business by adding new profit streams. It's simple, but not easy.In this breakthrough book, Dr. Mark Tager and Stewart Gandolf provide a practitioner's step-by-step guide to starting, growing and profiting from cash-pay healthcare. You'll find checklists, bulleted lists, helpful examples, and a guide to the best resources to help you along the way. No matter where you are along the continuum of generating additional revenue, you'll come away more confident and committed to growing your practice and serving your patients.
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780998031507
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 312
Book Description
This is a book for every healthcare practitioner-from every discipline-who is seeking to create a more meaningful, direct, and satisfying type of interaction with patients. At its foundation lies cash-pay healthcare and a return to the basic principles of commerce. You deliver services and products, and an experience that patients feel good about paying for with their hard-earned cash. This may involve a new payment structure, such as membership, concierge, hybrid, or direct pay; or it may be augmenting your business by adding new profit streams. It's simple, but not easy.In this breakthrough book, Dr. Mark Tager and Stewart Gandolf provide a practitioner's step-by-step guide to starting, growing and profiting from cash-pay healthcare. You'll find checklists, bulleted lists, helpful examples, and a guide to the best resources to help you along the way. No matter where you are along the continuum of generating additional revenue, you'll come away more confident and committed to growing your practice and serving your patients.
An American Sickness
Author: Elisabeth Rosenthal
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698407180
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
A New York Times bestseller/Washington Post Notable Book of 2017/NPR Best Books of 2017/Wall Street Journal Best Books of 2017 "This book will serve as the definitive guide to the past and future of health care in America.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene At a moment of drastic political upheaval, An American Sickness is a shocking investigation into our dysfunctional healthcare system - and offers practical solutions to its myriad problems. In these troubled times, perhaps no institution has unraveled more quickly and more completely than American medicine. In only a few decades, the medical system has been overrun by organizations seeking to exploit for profit the trust that vulnerable and sick Americans place in their healthcare. Our politicians have proven themselves either unwilling or incapable of reining in the increasingly outrageous costs faced by patients, and market-based solutions only seem to funnel larger and larger sums of our money into the hands of corporations. Impossibly high insurance premiums and inexplicably large bills have become facts of life; fatalism has set in. Very quickly Americans have been made to accept paying more for less. How did things get so bad so fast? Breaking down this monolithic business into the individual industries—the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers—that together constitute our healthcare system, Rosenthal exposes the recent evolution of American medicine as never before. How did healthcare, the caring endeavor, become healthcare, the highly profitable industry? Hospital systems, which are managed by business executives, behave like predatory lenders, hounding patients and seizing their homes. Research charities are in bed with big pharmaceutical companies, which surreptitiously profit from the donations made by working people. Patients receive bills in code, from entrepreneurial doctors they never even saw. The system is in tatters, but we can fight back. Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms, she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. In clear and practical terms, she spells out exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship and to hospital C-suites, explaining step-by-step the workings of a system badly lacking transparency. This is about what we can do, as individual patients, both to navigate the maze that is American healthcare and also to demand far-reaching reform. An American Sickness is the frontline defense against a healthcare system that no longer has our well-being at heart.
Publisher: Penguin
ISBN: 0698407180
Category : Medical
Languages : en
Pages : 434
Book Description
A New York Times bestseller/Washington Post Notable Book of 2017/NPR Best Books of 2017/Wall Street Journal Best Books of 2017 "This book will serve as the definitive guide to the past and future of health care in America.”—Siddhartha Mukherjee, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Emperor of All Maladies and The Gene At a moment of drastic political upheaval, An American Sickness is a shocking investigation into our dysfunctional healthcare system - and offers practical solutions to its myriad problems. In these troubled times, perhaps no institution has unraveled more quickly and more completely than American medicine. In only a few decades, the medical system has been overrun by organizations seeking to exploit for profit the trust that vulnerable and sick Americans place in their healthcare. Our politicians have proven themselves either unwilling or incapable of reining in the increasingly outrageous costs faced by patients, and market-based solutions only seem to funnel larger and larger sums of our money into the hands of corporations. Impossibly high insurance premiums and inexplicably large bills have become facts of life; fatalism has set in. Very quickly Americans have been made to accept paying more for less. How did things get so bad so fast? Breaking down this monolithic business into the individual industries—the hospitals, doctors, insurance companies, and drug manufacturers—that together constitute our healthcare system, Rosenthal exposes the recent evolution of American medicine as never before. How did healthcare, the caring endeavor, become healthcare, the highly profitable industry? Hospital systems, which are managed by business executives, behave like predatory lenders, hounding patients and seizing their homes. Research charities are in bed with big pharmaceutical companies, which surreptitiously profit from the donations made by working people. Patients receive bills in code, from entrepreneurial doctors they never even saw. The system is in tatters, but we can fight back. Dr. Elisabeth Rosenthal doesn't just explain the symptoms, she diagnoses and treats the disease itself. In clear and practical terms, she spells out exactly how to decode medical doublespeak, avoid the pitfalls of the pharmaceuticals racket, and get the care you and your family deserve. She takes you inside the doctor-patient relationship and to hospital C-suites, explaining step-by-step the workings of a system badly lacking transparency. This is about what we can do, as individual patients, both to navigate the maze that is American healthcare and also to demand far-reaching reform. An American Sickness is the frontline defense against a healthcare system that no longer has our well-being at heart.