Can IT Cure Healthcare's Inertia?

Perhaps you've seen the TV commercial for a popular arthritis drug that says, "A body at rest tends to stay at rest, while a body in motion tends to stay in motion." The ad refers, of course, to a law of physics called inertia--which brings to mind the U.S. healthcare system.

Our arthritic system certainly suffers from an unwillingness to move forward. It stubbornly clings to a fee-for-service model, focuses most of its energy on treatment rather than prevention, and resists IT innovations that can transform it into a nimble, cost-effective business.

And speaking of business models, the U.S. medical system has fallen victim to the same kind of myopia that recently bankrupted Kodak and seriously weakened the railroad industry over the years.