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redefining health care provides an overall framework for diagnosing and solving the problems of our country’s health care system. the book is co-authored by michael porter, ph.d. and elizabeth olmsted teisberg, ph.d. michael porter is a professor at harvard business school and is arguably the nation's leading expert on management strategy and competition. elizabeth teisberg is a professor of business at the university of virginia and a senior fellow at the new england healthcare institute.
the authors argue that participants in the health care system have competed to shift costs, accumulate bargaining power, and restrict services rather than create value for patients. this zero-sum competition takes place at the wrong level--among health plans, networks, and hospitals--rather than where it matters most: in the diagnosis, treatment, and prevention of specific health conditions. the book incorporates principles of value-based competition and addresses the gpo issue from this context. in a section titled, "curtail anticompetitive buying-group practices," the book states:
"most troubling is that some gpos are funded by suppliers rather than solely by hospitals. the fees that suppliers pay, which would normally be considered illegal kickbacks, are allowed by the 1986 amendment to the social security act. thus, buying groups may serve the interests of the suppliers that provide their funding, not providers, thereby undermining value-based competition. while the extent of this bias is contested, the potential for conflict of interest is indisputable. to enable value-based competition, every buying group...should voluntarily pay for it. " (pgs. 361-362)
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