How will MedOn (p.p.) operate?

In a nutshell -- with most of the goals outlined in Porter & Olmstead-Teisberg's 2006 book on health care --

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b02/en/common/item_detail.jhtml;jsessionid=WMYRKFHW0JUE2AKRGWDR5VQBKE0YIISW?id=7782&_requestid=128898

The U.S. health care system is in crisis. At stake are the quality of care for millions of Americans and the financial well-being of individuals and employers squeezed by skyrocketing premiums--not to mention the stability of state and federal government budgets. In Redefining Health Care, internationally renowned strategy expert Michael E. Porter and innovation expert Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg reveal the underlying--and largely overlooked--causes of the problem and provide a powerful prescription for change. The authors argue that participants in the health care system have competed to shift costs, accumulate bargaining power, and restrict services rather than create value for patients. This zero-sum competition takes place at the wrong level--among health plans, networks, and hospitals--rather than where it matters most: in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of specific health conditions. Redefining Health Care lays out a breakthrough framework for redefining health care competition based on patient value. With specific recommendations for hospitals, doctors, health plans, employers, and policy makers, this book shows how to move to a positive-sum competition that will unleash stunning improvements in quality and efficiency.

To paraphrase Warren Buffett -- our goals are value, value, value.

Not buck-passing. Not bureaucracy. Not work-avoidance. Not herky-jerky treatment systems.

If it don't get the patient better -- if it does not create value -- dump it.

MedOn (p.p.) began as a logical response to medical tourism -- why burn all that CO2-producing jet fuel?

The short-coming of medical tourism -- still mired in buck-passing. Who's responsible for what?

MedOn's goal is to create 'caring circles of community." To operationalize systematically, and not with the awful, wasteful, and soul-crushing SNAFUs that plague health care today.

To those who say that the Porter/Olmstead approach is unrealistic and unworkable -- we have read your comments.

Our reply: the beauty of MedOn (pat. pend.) is that, at this point, it is a "clean sheet."

No embedded culture of SNAFUs and FUBARs. And a clear, strong vision -- affordable medical treatment for the working-class, to provide authentic patient value.

So .. to those AMA-types who call MedOn "provocative" --

If providing affordable quality medical-care options for the working-class is "provocative" to you, we wish you well.

We're trying to work with others to make things better for patients.

The Indian Health Service of the USA & us

As the inventor of Medical Onshoring (patent-pending), one of the first questions I get is, "what about the Indian Health Service (IHS)?"

My response: "I welcome them as a partner in trying to make health care worldwide better. We're national -- IHS is local. We should work together, not at cross-purposes."

Plus -- I've already improved conditions for IHS (see following).

MedOn (pat. pend.) began as a logical alternative to "medical tourism" -- why burn all that jet fuel?

Knowing our logical, caring beginnings -- to think MedOn (p.p.) would want to directly compete with IHS is "illogical," as Star Trek's Mr. Spock would say. And wasteful and financially-crippling for everyone involved.

MedOn (p.p.) wants to work with IHS -- not get into a zero-sum game with no winners.

MedOn (p.p.) is national -- IHS is local.

We're different. Really different.

Now .. back to caring for patients ..

------

Did MedOn spur federal action for a new IHS facility?

Well ..

First this on 5/15/08, in the "Minot Daily News" --

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – An engineer in North Carolina has filed a patent for a new medical-care system that he says would be a good business fit with the Minot area.

C. Alex Chien said Wednesday that Minot has the technology, transportation and environment to host a prototype “medical onshoring” clinic.

Chien, a self-employed engineer, is a former rural economic developer with RochesterTel, former owners of Minot Telephone Co. SRT purchased Minot Telephone Co. in 1994.

Then this on 11/11/08 in the "Minot Daily News"

NEW TOWN, N.D. -- The design plans for a $20 million health-care facility for the Three Affiliated Tribes on the Fort Berthold Reservation are moving forward.

"We're looking at a groundbreaking next spring or early summer, with a completion of 2010," said Jim Foote, project manager for the Three Affiliated Tribes' Elbowoods Memorial Health Facility.

In September, Sen. Byron Dorgan, D-N.D., announced that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers had awarded a $1.48 million contract to launch the design phase to build the health-care facility on Fort Berthold.

Nice coincidence that a long-delayed IHS project accelerates -- or separate matters? You decide.

USA health care -- how much pain?

Why Medical Onshoring (patent-pending)?

Consider the existing alternative -- the $2.4T (trillion) U.S. health care system.

• High costs, putting tremendous financial strain on patients, families, employers, health plans/payors, providers, and taxpayers.
• Uneven coverage and quality -- even with single-payer groups like VA.
• Ruinous medical-malpractice costs, driving up (1) costs and (2) resulting in mostly-wasteful "defensive medicine" to deter malpractice lawsuits -- between $250B (billion) and $500B in wasted costs.
• High administrative costs due to poor management and billing practices -- between $750B (billion) and $1T (trillion) in wasted costs.

This is on top of the USA's self-inflicted medical problems -- smoking, poor diet, alcoholism, drug abuse, and dangerous lifestyles -- as much as $750B (billion) in wasted costs.

Fixing half those issues would free up hundreds of billions of dollars spent on health care now -- wouldn't it?

Editorial note: as a new company, Medical Onshoring (patent-pending) is not shackled to the past. By requiring top performance and med-mal reforms, we will provide the maximal surgical service possible.

Medical Tourism & Patient Data

Under "statistics, damn statistics and lies" ..

http://travel.nytimes.com/2006/10/15/business/yourmoney/15care.html?sq=thailand%20hospital&st=nyt&scp=4&pagewanted=print

In Bangkok, Bumrungrad International Hospital counts 55,000 American patients a year.

McKinsey & Company's report on medical tourism, using a very rigorous, very conservative data-approach --

http://www.mckinseyquarterly.com/Mapping_the_market_for_travel_2134?pagenum=1

"Between 60,000 and 85,000 people annually travel abroad for inpatient hospital care, a number .. far lower than commonly assumed."

Probably some of the difference is between elective and acute situations.