populations

Book: Credit crunch health care: How economics can save our publicly funded health services Author: Cam Donaldson Teaser: How do we avoid a culture of contentment so that we don’t make the changes we need. In this great book, world-leading health economist Cam Donaldson defends NHS-type systems on the same basis as their detractors: economic efficiency. However, protecting government funding of health care is not enough: scarcity has to be managed. Donaldson goes on to show how we can get more out of our systems by addressing issues of value for money. In particular, he demonstrates what has been achieved through health care reform but questions how much more this can deliver relative to getting serious about priority [...]

Book: Visual Display of Quantitative Information Author: Edward Tufte Teaser: Anybody who wants to display graphical information should read this book. Anybody who wants to understand how beautiful data can look should read this book. Read this book and do not put up with unintelligible and ugly graphics ever again. Tag: Populations

Book: The Spirit Level: Why Equality is Better for Everyone Author: Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett Teaser: In this book, Wilkinson and Pickett remind us that it is not poverty but inequality that causes most damage to society. They also outline how more equal societies enjoy greater health and well-being and that this benefits everyone in society- the most and least deprived. In healthcare, we must therefore, address inequity of access, or the Inverse Care Law, as this is a form of inequality that is entirely within our control.   Tag: Populations

Book: Tracking Medicine; a researcher’s quest to understand healthcare  Author: Jack Wennberg Teaser: When we study healthcare at a population, as opposed to institutional, level, a whole new perspective emerges- unwarranted variation. This is variation that is not driven by a failure to standardise, but variation that shows we do not have systems for population healthcare. Understanding the symptom that is unwarranted variation helps inform how we can fix the causes of lower value population healthcare. Tag: Populations

Book: How Much is Enough? Author: Alain Enthoven & Wayne Smith Teaser: How much should we spend on people with frailty versus people with mental health problems? Unless we can answer questions like this, we cannot have high value universal healthcare. Alain Enthoven, is mistakenly blamed for suggesting to Margaret Thatcher that the NHS should introduce the purchaser provider split- actually his Nuffield Trust paper advocated the development of accountable care organisations. However, this book is about the work he and colleagues did on creating programme budgets in the Department of Defense (sic) in the US. Originally published in 1971 this is a book of enduring value and lasting relevance. Enthoven details the application, history, and controversies surrounding the Planning, Programming, and Budgeting System. [...]

Book: Setting Limits Fairly: Learning to Share Resources for Health Author: Norman Daniels and James Sabin Teaser: The people we serve would expect resources to be used fairly and reasonably. In this book, Daniels and Sabin outline that we lack consensus on principles for allocating medical resources, and in the absence of such a consensus we must develop and rely on a fair decision-making process for setting limits on health care so we can use resources more fairly.  Tag: Populations

Book: Creating Public Value: Strategic Management in Government Author: Mark Moore Teaser: Anybody leading a public service organisation, a hospital, a clinic, a healthcare payer, should understand their role in providing public value. This great book by Mark Moore summarises what value means within the public sector, and the different perspectives that need to be taken. Tag: Populations