Recently finished Money-Driven Medicine: The Real Reason Health Care Costs So Much by Maggie Mahar who, as you may know, blogs at the Health Beat.

I recommend the book.  Ms. Mahar does a wonderful job exploring the many different facets of our health care system; each component is responsible for some sort of wasteful spending.  The book also gives good history lessons on a variety of topics including for-profit hospitals (which I found quite interesting).  The many interviews provide a look into how individuals throughout health care feel about current standard operating procedure with some very insightful opinions.

From the jacket:

Why is medical care in the United States so expensive? For decades, Americans have taken it as a matter of faith that we spend more because we have the best health care system in the world. But as costs levitate, that argument becomes more difficult to make. Today, we spend twice as much as Japan on health care—yet few would argue that our health care system is twice as good.

Instead, startling new evidence suggests that one out of every three of our health care dollars is squandered on unnecessary or redundant tests; unproven, sometimes unwanted procedures; and overpriced drugs and devices that, too often, are no better than the less expensive products they have replaced.

How did this happen? In Money-Driven Medicine, Maggie Mahar takes the reader behind the scenes of a $2 trillion industry to witness how billions of dollars are wasted in a Hobbesian marketplace that pits the industry’s players against each other.

An interesting tidbit from the Publishers Weekly review on Amazon, “[Ms. Mahar] wants to show why the most common economic assumptions about health care—especially those that extol the magic power of free markets—are false and stand in the way of real reform.

Tom Peters does some cool things (ah, constantly!). One of my favorites is when he shares books he is reading. But a cooler thing is when he shares books (warning, it’s a PowerPoint) that influence his thinking.

That’s where I found this gem.

Scott E. Page’s book “The Difference” is about diversity. And not about our traditional definitions like skin color, religion, sexuality, and others. Those kinds of diversity are extremely important. But Mr. Page pushes the debate past all of that. Diversity is what happens when individuals with different “toolboxes” are brought together to solve problems. Mr. Page explores diversity as the many different ways people think.

Organizations are able (and should!) promote diversity to improve productivity, and the book outlines Mr. Page’s case. It is a very compelling read with takeaways that can be implemented (without too much effort) in the organizations where we work. His writing is understandable even though some of the ideas in the book can seem dense at start.

From the jacket, “The Difference” reveals that progress and innovation may depend less on lone thinkers with enormous IQs than on diverse people working together and capitalizing on their individuality…Page changes the way we understand diversity–how to harness its untapped potential, how to understand and avoid its traps, and how we can leverage our differences for the benefit of all.”

The New York Times has an interview with Mr. Page. Go check it out for a little more enlightenment.