Today, most patients needing long-term dialysis no longer get it in hospitals but go to less costly, more convenient outpatient clinics. Routine problems like hernias are fixed in outpatient surgery offices; while complex issues like cancer are handled in specialized centers with expertise to better manage these problems, at lower cost.
These and other innovations in delivering medical care, from the advent of outpatient rehabilitation to creation of the first HMO, were pioneered in the last few decades through a common origin: they were incubated in start-ups that were headed by entrepreneurs and backed by venture capital.
Advances in the way that healthcare services are delivered, most now taken for granted, arose the same way as progress in other spheres of commerce — as a result of innovators who risked capital in search of profits. These new ideas are essential if we’re going to solve our long-term fiscal woes by increasing productivity in the healthcare sector to get more medical care for each dollar we spend.