Best of
Health-Care

2016

Growing Physician Leaders: Empowering Doctors to Improve Our Healthcare


Mark Hertling - 2016
    Physicians hold the key to improving healthcare, but while they enjoy exceptional training in the science of medicine, the vast majority of doctors have received little training in even the basics of leadership. In Growing Physician Leaders, retired Army Lieutenant General Mark Hertling applies his four decades of military leadership to the world of healthcare, resulting in a profoundly constructive and practical book with the power to reshape and reenergize any healthcare organization in America today. Designed to help physicians master the art of leading people, it takes them, step-by-step, through a proven process that can help anyone become a more effective leader. Growing Physician Leaders gives doctors a potent tool to improve their personal health, their professional health, their organizational health, and ultimately, our nation's health.

The Truth about Cancer


Ty M. Bollinger - 2016
    According to the World Health Organization, one out of three women alive today, and one out of two men, will face a cancer diagnosis in their lifetime.To Ty Bollinger, this isn’t just a statistic. It’s personal. After losing seven members of his family to cancer over the course of a decade, Ty set out on a global quest to learn as much as he possibly could about cancer treatments and the medical industry that surrounds the disease. He has written this book to share what he’s uncovered—some of which may shock you—and to give you new resources for coping with cancer in your life or the life of someone you love.As Ty explains, there are many methods we can access to treat and prevent cancer that go well beyond chemotherapy, radiation, and surgery; we just don’t know about them. The Truth about Cancer delves into the history of medicine—all the way back to Hippocrates’s credo of “do no harm” —as well as cutting-edge research showing the efficacy of dozens of unconventional cancer treatments that are helping patients around the globe. You’ll read about the politics of cancer; facts and myths about its causes (a family history is only part of the picture); and the range of tools available to diagnose and treat it.If you’re facing a cancer diagnosis right now, this book may help you and your health-care provider make choices about your next steps. If you’re already undergoing conventional treatment, it may help you support your health during the course of chemo or radiation. If you’re a health-care provider and want to learn all you can to help your patients, it will expand your horizons and inspire you with true stories of successful healing. And if you just want to see cancer in a new light, it will open your eyes.

Finding Freedom in Illness: A Guide to Cultivating Deep Well-Being through Mindfulness and Self-Compassion


Peter Fernando - 2016
    To Peter Fernando's credit, he makes that statement, and no such impulse arises. We believe him because he's been there himself and because he backs up the statements with his own real experiences and with real wisdom from the Buddhist teachings. Peter starts by defusing the pernicious belief that anyone is somehow responsible for their illness: You're not "wrong" for being sick. Then, having gotten past self-blame, one can begin to learn self-kindness. From there, one moves to mindfulness practices and cultivating body awareness--even if body awareness is distasteful when the body isn't behaving the way you like. Further topics include getting intimate with dark emotions (fear, despair, the scary future, frustration, grief, etc.), learning equanimity (rejoicing in the good fortune of those who don't share your suffering), cultivating healthy relationships in the midst of everything, and practical advice for living with pain. Each chapter comes with one or more practices or guided meditations for putting the teachings into practice.

Poverty and the Myths of Health Care Reform


Richard A. Cooper - 2016
    Richard (Buz) Cooper argues that US poverty and high health care spending are inextricably entwined. Our nation's health care system bears a financial burden that is greater than in any other developed country in large part because impoverished patients use more health care, driving up costs across the board.Drawing on decades of research, Dr. Cooper illuminates the geographic patterns of poverty, wealth, and health care utilization that exist across neighborhoods, regions, and states--and among countries. He chronicles the historical threads that have led to such differences, examines the approaches that have been taken to combat poverty throughout US history, and analyzes the impact that structural changes now envisioned for clinical practice are likely to have. His research reveals that ignoring the impact of low income on health care utilization while blaming rising costs on waste, inefficiency, and unnecessary care has led policy makers to reshape clinical practice in ways that impede providers who care for the poor.The first book to address the fundamental nexus that binds poverty and income inequality to soaring health care utilization and spending, Poverty and the Myths of Health Care Reform is a must-read for medical professionals, public health scholars, politicians, and anyone concerned with the heavy burden of inequality on the health of Americans.

The Finest Traditions of My Calling: One Physician’s Search for the Renewal of Medicine


Abraham M. Nussbaum - 2016
    We live in an era of continuous healthcare reforms, many of which focus on high volume, efficiency, and cost-effectiveness. This compelling, thoughtful book is the response of a practicing psychiatrist who explains how population-based reforms have diminished the relationship between doctors and patients, to the detriment of both. As an antidote to failed reforms and an alternative to stubbornly held traditions, Dr. Abraham M. Nussbaum suggests ways that doctors and patients can learn what it means to be ill and to seek medical assistance.   Using a variety of riveting stories from his own and others’ experiences, the author develops a series of metaphors to explore a doctor’s role in different healthcare reform scenarios: scientist, technician, author, gardener, teacher, servant, and witness. Each role influences what a physician sees when examining a person as a patient. Dr. Nussbaum cautions that true healthcare reform can happen only when those who practice medicine can see, and be seen by, their patients as fellow creatures. His memoir makes a hopeful appeal for change, and his insights reveal the direction that change must take.

Before Disrupting Healthcare: What Innovators Need To Know


Pallav Sharda - 2016
    Before Disrupting Healthcare provides a quick introduction to its foundational concepts and products with a look into emerging trends that may rule the future. In it you'll learn about topics like Electronic Health Records, Health Information Exchanges, Accountable Care Organizations, and Meaningful Use regulation. Discover what they mean from a product perspective and how things might evolve. This is a must-read for anyone working on, or investing in, health information technology products. Outsiders can use this book to become insiders, and insiders can become experts.