Microsoft's Steve Ballmer Says the Health Care Industry is "Under-automated." My Advice for Workers

[NashVegas]

Start preparing yourselves now (if you haven't already) for the day when your medical skills, obtained at costs of tens of thousands of dollars and years of experience, are worthless compared to the next person's social and self-promotional skills.

Automation takes decision-making out of the realm of hands-on workers, where making good decisions is how you get promoted, and puts it in the hands of the mid-level manager who best convinces upper management he/she is a company guy.

We've already seen medical personnel - highly skilled and knowledgeable doctors and nurses - start complaining about decisions being taken out of their hands and put into admins and insurers. If Steve gets his way, your industry will face the same devastation and brain-drain others already have.

Good luck, and start watching Survivor to get an idea of your future workplace.

http://www.tennessean.com/article/20100121/BUSINESS01/1210344/In+Nashville++Microsoft+CEO+talks+health+care++technology

[Selatius]

1. So, a business oligarch ignores the obvious problem of lack of competition in the health ins. market

The only reason why premium inflation is so sky high and why deductibles are of insane sizes is because these firms are not really facing any competition. Competition would force them to pare down their profit margins and bureaucratic waste including executive compensation packages out of fear of losing market share to lower cost competitors. No, instead, they pass on the increasing costs to policyholders.

Expecting an oligarch to address the problem of an oligopoly is like asking Adolf Hitler to address the problem of lack of democracy in the Soviet Union.