Who Knew? ― Inside the Complexity of American Health Care

Despite all the writing and the research, America’s health care industry continues to fail at providing health care that is accessible and affordable, with measurable quality. The fundamental reason we have failed is that health care is not only a complex business, but the most complex in our economy. Other industries are disrupted, some readily adapt to new markets; some leverage information technology and innovative and cost-saving ways. But to date, health care has resisted. The customary approaches tried in other industries seem not to apply to health care. Why?

Why is the health care industry so politically divisive? Why is the quality of health care services so difficult to measure? Why do patients often fail to understand their own health care? Why are security and privacy such unique challenges in health care? Why is the payment process for health care services so complicated and challenging? This book seeks to answer these questions.

This book written by a well know industry ‘insider’ with 35+ years working at senior levels in hospital operations and information technology, discusses nine major factors that in combination contribute to health care’s complexity. The author concludes that until we understand why health is so complex, we will continue to see books complaining about the poor state of health care in the U.S., and proposals for change that are generally unsuccessful, and innovative technology products that fail to deliver expected results.

Lynn Harold Vogel, Ph.D., LCHIME, has been involved in leadership roles in hospital operations and information technology (IT) in the health care industry for more than 35 years, and is a widely recognized expert and presenter on health care IT.

Prior to establishing his own consulting firm, Dr. Vogel was Vice President and Chief Information Officer (CIO) at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center (UT-MDACC) in Houston, Texas. Previously he served as CIO at The University of Chicago Hospitals, as VP/CIO at the Mount Sinai Medical Center (New York City) and as VP of Information Services at New York Presbyterian Healthcare.

Dr. Vogel has also held academic appointments as Associate Professor (Bioinformatics and Computational Biology) at UT-MDACC, as Adjunct Associate Professor (Management) at The University of Texas School of Public Health, and as Assistant Professor (Biomedical Informatics) at Columbia University (New York). Dr. Vogel also previously served on the faculties of The City University of New York and The University of Chicago.

In 2006, under Dr. Vogel’s leadership, MD Anderson was named to the CIO 100 list of the most innovative information technology organizations, and to the top 100 of InformationWeek’s Top 500. In 2007, Dr. Vogel was named one of Computerworld’s Premier 100 IT Leaders, and awarded a "Best in Class" for his contributions to health care IT. In 2010, MDACC was again recognized by Computerworld as a leader in health care information technology by designation as a Laureate, and by awarding the institution its prestigious 21st Century Achievement Award in Health Care. In 2011, Dr. Vogel was recognized by InformationWeek magazine as a member of the InformationWeek Healthcare CIO 25, a select group of individuals identified as "leading the health care IT revolution", and in 2013 was named to the Becker Hospital Review’s list of "100 Hospital and Health System CIOs to Know".

Dr. Vogel previously was a Member and Fellow of the Healthcare Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS), was a Certified Healthcare CIO (CHCIO) and continues as a member of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA). He is a Life Fellow (LCHIME) of the College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHIME), where he was a Charter Member, and previously served as Board Member and Board Chair. Dr. Vogel currently serves on the Board of Glytec, a company focusing on the development and implementation of patented and FDA approved software for glycemic management. He is a Founding Member of Next Wave Health Advisors and is affiliated with the Huntzinger Management Group.

Dr. Vogel’s education at the bachelor’s, masters and doctoral level was completed at The University of Chicago.