Wednesday, July 29, 2009

DCRI's Schulman writes editorial on health care reform

President Obama has been actively promoting and discussing his plans for health care reform, which is stirring debate on both sides of the issue. The DCRI's Kevin Schulman, MD, and Duke's Frank Sloan, Ph.D., wrote an op-ed column that appeared in Sunday's News & Observer about what they consider the three most important issues to address in order to control rising health care costs.

Dr. Schulman is the director of the Health Sector Management Program at Duke's Fuqua School of Business, and the director for the Center for Clinical and Genetic Economics at the DCRI. Dr. Sloan is the J. Alexander McMahon Professor of Health Policy and Management.

The three issues that the professors believe are crucial to address include:

• Reducing variation in how clinicians practice health care;
• Changing the incentives in the health care system;
• And making hospitals and insurance companies more efficient.

To read the full piece in The News & Observer, click here.