According to a recent NPR interview with Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, more than 100,000 people die in hospitals from preventable errors. In other words, they are dying from something that happened in the hospital.
It makes one wonder, should health care costs be in part determined by the quality of care? There is definitely talk of more merit-based pay being part of health care reform and some are arguing for a sort of warranty.
There are no warranties in health care today because everything is paid fee-for-service. And that is the underlying problem with escalating costs.
A warranty means that you are going to think in terms of the customer’s experience and perceptions. In health care, you would need to start thinking about the care patients have when they need it, not in terms of an artificial payment construct or a third party payer system.
