Is US Healthcare Ready for Quality?

Medicine is unique in being the one profession that never teaches even its recruits how they, or the services they deliver, are paid — and importantly, by whom. When I started my internship in internal medicine not too long ago, I knew as much about the financial structures and payment models of my chosen profession as any lay person did (read: nothing).

Most questions would usually be answered with medicine's newest favorite catch-all, "the system is broken". It is used when patients walk up to physicians to discuss whether they can help them understand if the procedures or tests they are about to undergo are covered under their insurance. It is used to explain why a test has to be repeated even though the patient underwent a similar test in a different institution. More often than anyone would like, it is used in the aftermath of a medical error or a "near miss".

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Source: The Guardian