Posted on Thursday, July 20 2006 - 12:53 AM - In The News

No one ever sat down and designed the U.S. health-care “system.” It simply evolved, in bits and pieces. As it now threatens to crack under its own weight, a DMS faculty member is a leading proponent of the need to stop tinkering and rethink things—from a “microsystem” perspective.

Health-care spending in the United States—now closing in on 15% of the gross domestic product—continues to boom, and there seems to be no end in sight. But why? The answer lies, in part, in human ingenuity, according to Paul Batalden, M.D., a Dartmouth faculty member who has sought to transform medicine's bloated cost structure for decades.

“If you have the problem of human disease and add to that an engine of scientific creativity and smart researchers, you have a formula for unending spiraling costs,” says Batalden, director of health-care improvement leadership development at Dartmouth Medical School. “So we're going to have this problem from this time forward.”

But Batalden is not fatalistic about the future of health care, nor is he paralyzed by the seemingly insurmountable task of controlling health-care costs. He believes he's found a way to reduce costs while improving quality and efficiency. His strategy lies in a concept known as the clinical microsystem. Slowly, clinic by clinic, hospital by hospital, the evidence is growing that the microsystem model may be able to cure American health care.





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