Saving Lives & Saving Money: Transforming Health and Healthcare

by Dana Pavey, Anne Woodbury, Newt Gingrich

Saving Lives & Saving Money is a transforming approach to the challenge of creating a better system of health and healthcare for the twenty-first century. Learn more about designing a twenty-first... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0970548540
• ISBN13: 9780970548542
• Release Date: May 2003
• Publisher: Alexis de Tocqueville Institution
• Length: 308 Pages
• Weight: 1.25 lbs.

Customer Reviews

A Must Read for All in Need of Health Care in America

A student of history and a proponent for the possible, Newt Gingrich reviews America's Health Care System and recommends a Revolution. While most politicians and policy makers see only the ability to tweak the current system, Gingrich studies it and determines and documents that the entire system must be revamped. He bases his analysis both on the history of America's health care system and on sound economics. In addition, Newt adds the spice of stories of those who are already playing a part to utilize today's technology to develop a health care system that promotes personal relationships between the patient and both his/her physician and his/her source of health care funding. But most important, Newt outlines what each individual can do to revolutionize America's health care in order to both `save lives and save money.' This book is a must read for anyone in America in need of health care. The life and money you save just might be your own.

A Roadmap to Healthcare Transformation

As a citizen, nurse and consultant in medical information technology, I found this book of great interest and value. It provides a framework for transforming the current healthcare system into a 21st century health and healthcare system. A system that is individual centered, values driven, knowledge intense, innovation rich, prevention focused, electronically based, market mediated, of increased choice, quality driven, outcomes based and of lower overall cost.Filled with real life examples of transformational solutions and specific ways for all citizens to get involved in the healthcare debate, this book is a call to action. It provides one with an understanding of the problems of the current system, a vision for the future system and challenges one to get involved in the transformation. I am very interested in the Center for Healthcare Transformation that was mentioned as one way to get involved. I recommend this book to private citizens and healthcare and IT professionals who want to transform the current system. I also recommend it to students of any health related discipline (nursing, medicine, health system administration to name a few) wanting to better understand the problems of the current system and the transformation that is needed.Newt is a visionary and a gifted teacher. This book is an excellent blend of those talents.

Right on Target!

As the health care system in America continues its end run toward a total breakdown, in this new book, Newt Gingrich, with collaborators Dana Pavey and Anne Woodbury, leads the way in offering viable and sensible solutions to some of the major health care challenges currently facing Americans. We are all "consumers" of health care. Why shouldn't we be treated with the same respect for quality and efficiency that we have grown to expect from the local Kwikie mart? Mr. Gingrich advocates a transformation in the way the business of health care is conducted in our country. He compares the efficiency of the modern American business with the inefficiencies of our current health care practices. Then he exposes the current systems' out dated methods and contradictions. Why not approach health care with a client centered model as business does? Of course, this would mean a re-organization of health care practices from the current quagmire of time wasting and paper pushing to one that uses the same qualities we value in the "real world," i.e. transparency, accuracy in measuring outcomes and technological innovation. And the strange thing is, Newt shows that this would actually save money as well!"Saving Lives & Saving Money" while being a book of interest to every American, is also a good and interesting read. Some of Newt's ideas, like having computerized prescriptions, which would reduce the errors caused by doctor's infamously unreadable handwriting, are so simple and so clear, that you really have to wonder why this isn't the common practice now. Chapter Eight, which outlines a new model for the care and management of diabetics, is especially relevant when one looks at the explosion of diabetes in the United States today. Who doesn't have a relative with this disease? Another great chapter is the one on healthy aging, which will continue to be a prominent topic in health care as the baby-boomers reach retirement age. As a boomer myself, I would welcome the changes called for in this book, especially the focus on maintaining your health before you lose it. Amazingly, some companies in America are currently developing the solutions that Mr. Gingrich suggests. A list of these innovating companies is found in Appendix A, for those who would like to follow up or use their services. These include some of the larger medical teaching universities as well as start-ups. In looking at the websites and emailing a few, I found them eager to provide information about their specialties. I would recommend taking the time to check them out. Appendix B, "Biothreat: Transform or Risk Mass Death" contains important information about the threat of bioterrorism and our readiness to meet this challenge. It is sobering to contemplate a bioterrorism attack by hostile forces. But as 9/11 demonstrated, it is better to be prepared than to have innocent lives suffer the consequences. This chapter ends with a plan of action for our government, which has been written with the

A Rational Approach To Addressing Healthcare Costs

Mack W. BrysonChief Executive OfficerCurrahee Health Benefits Solutions, Inc. "It is refreshing that someone has finally addressed a common sense, no nonsense approach to managing healthcare costs. For too long employers have labored under the illusion that cost shifting through co-pays, deductibles, provider networks and restriction of coverage would help control healthcare costs. 'Managed Care' has proven itself to be nothing more than 'Managed Cost,' while the basic problems went unaddressed for the most part. In Saving Lives & Saving Money, Newt Gingrich points out that through accountability and prevention, coupled with available technology, employers, employees and their families can finally begin to get a handle on the issue of healthcare costs. A point well made!"