STAT News – Biotech
Opinion: Spreading out elective admissions could save lives, strengthen hospitals, and reduce health spending
Imagine seeing a patient who drinks excessively, eats only foods high in saturated and trans fats, never exercises, and ignores prescribed medications — yet constantly complains that he doesn’t feel well. The advice would be obvious: change those behaviors.
In many ways, U.S. health care delivery resembles this person. For decades, we have documented systemic problems, like unsafe staffing ratios, medical errors, clinician burnout, and rising costs. Yet we continue to operate hospitals in ways that predictably produce these outcomes.