Restarting - It Appears I Have More to Say

I have taken a hiatus of a few years from writing these thoughts, opinions, and occasional facts about health care, health economics and health benefits.  The hiatus came from a lack of time, a shift in my focus, and a need to rethink my reasons for writing.

During this writing lull, I have continued to fight for approaches to health care that are data driven and humanistic.  I have continued to fight entrenched ways of doing things, the use of health care for political means,  and the decisions made based on poor judgement, faulty data, and over reliance on blunt instruments.  I have continued to fight organizations that make decisions based on protecting their own positions and organizations rather than understanding and addressing the needs of people who are suffering.

I have seen health care attorneys look at all health care through the lens of the contract, health care data scientists look at all health care as new data algorithms to be developed, and internet entrepreneurs look at health care as their latest app.  With all this, I have also seen physicians move from being independent patient advocates to being shift workers paid by large systems whose goals sometimes seem to be more focused on margins and growth than on caring for those in need.  I have seen ego and wealth generation driving decisions instead of healing those in pain.  I have also seen brave, caring professionals who get up every day to fight for the patient.  I see those people getting tired and beaten down by the system in ways that are sad to watch.

So I will start again to put down my thoughts and observations in writing for anyone who cares to read them.  My first blog post will be posted shortly, and I thank those who do take the time to read it.