Reengineering Health Care: A Manifesto for Radically Rethinking Health Care Delivery

In the legendary book, Reengineering the Corporation, Jim Champy and Michael Hammer showed business people around the world the enormous power of a revolutionary methodology that they called reengineering. Reengineering was a method for retooling the processes that make up a business. Reengineering could lead, and did lead, many companies to change their business practices for dramatic cost savings and greater customer satisfaction and value. A reengineering wave ensued around the world, and lasts to this day. Now, for the first time, Jim Champy and Dr. Harry Greenspun, both of Dell Perot Systems, show how reengineering methodology should be applied to health care, both within individual companies and throughout the entire system. For instance, over 40% of the costs of health care are administrative. Think of the cost savings to citizens, companies, and the government, no matter what kind of health care legislation is passed in the US or in any country, if the application of reengineering processes could strip out significant portions of that 40%? And it can, so say the authors. Reengineer the system, strip out the costs no longer needed, and focus that found money on aligning quality, accessible care for more people. It's the prescription for a brand-new health care system.