Christian Zavisca

One of those mass group dance occasions

Video from the South Bend Tribune: Scores of employees dance to celebrate Memorial Hospital's new Main Street entrance.

My mom's place of employment. I can't wait to hear her thoughts on this.

No one should die because they cannot afford health care ...

In honor of the status update meme that's been sweeping Facebook, I've been thinking today about a fascinating New Yorker story that was published June 1: The Cost Conundrum: What a Texas town can teach us about health care.

My mother, who has worked in the health care industry for years, passed it along to me a while back.

The writer, Atul Gawande, is a surgeon. He describes in great detail the huge disparities in Medicare costs seen in two similar Texas communities, and reports on the collaborative, team-based approaches at places such as the Mayo Clinic that yield great results without breaking the bank.

Gawande posted a followup item three weeks after "The Cost Conundrum" appeared.

Gawande, also a Harvard professor, is interviewed on NPR here, and at the Washington Post here.

(Warning: the original story, in fine New Yorker tradition, is quite lengthy.)