Many people read articles and books from futurists with interest. Some are fascinated by the borderline science fiction and reality blend. If you are one of those people you have probably noticed that the world of innovation and discovery is moving faster than ever before in human history. One book, which I recommend is: "Prescription for the Future-How the Technology is Changing the Pulse of Global Health" Care-By Moore, Rey, Rollins. It is written in conjunction with Anderson Consulting. It is interesting how many things in this book describing the future came to be and how many things did not. It was written in 1996 and predicted some great things and the ideals presented produced some great things, yet right after this book Columbia Health Care showed everyone the light. This book cited real life examples and successes and real life failures. In hindsight we see that the idealism was ahead of its time and the components, which did not fit were many of the things, which were not in the equation; Government regulations for one. Would I recommend this book? Yes just like I would recommend "Business at the Speed of Thought" or "Bill Gates Speaks," yet I would not call "Prescription for the Future" the end all cure all for health care. It is interesting to hear President Bush speak on the health care issue of HIPPA stating that technology in IT will solve the regulatory hardship and indeed if you read any of the white papers from BitPipe, they will show his statement is correct. And we are seeing PDA wireless devices, which are HIPPA safe with encrypted 802.11 and the tele-robotics has surely become a common used tool for surgery half way around the globe. These trends will continue and the science and technology improve. Futurists predict it and money is flowing from VC to industry to make it so. Recent technology has revolutionized the healthcare industry forever. I question many aspects of this book along with those methods recommended in a book like TQM, the new and the old cannot fully be integrated and sometimes the old must be destroyed to usher in the new, otherwise the you just get new buzzwords and minutia. Most of the examples of case studies and real life successes in this book and there were a ton of them, should be studied and celebrated. I only recommend this book as a exercise in thought process and problem solving as it will help anyone in any industry to innovate, but I do not recommend this book to anyone wanting to revitalize an HMO or Hospital because it is now outdated; see how fast the world moves in 10-years. That statement in itself proves the book's point. I see why it was so popular back in its hay day. I probably should have read it then when I bought the damn thing. If you are a professional, consolidator or in the Health care industry you should read it, with a salt shaker near by, if you are an innovator, inventor, thinker; or perhaps you wish to be, then go pick up a copy today. Read it chapter by chapter and think on it, you will be glad you did. |
