In the ever-changing world of health care policy, measurable improvements are more important than ever-and predictable, intuitive results are the goal. But when it comes to accountable health care, data analysis can yield unexpected answers, sometimes even proving counterintuitive to practices that seemed to make sense at the time.
For that reason, developing proper analytic skills can seem like a comedy of errors, requiring patience and willingness to learn from your mistakes. Erroneous guidelines, puzzling policies, and baffling data have all been put forth in the name of improving patients' health outcomes-some since debunked, and others proven surprisingly effective.
In Riddles in Accountable Health Care, experienced physician Eran Bellin takes readers on a fun and fascinating romp through these complex issues in the world of health care, answering questions whose answers may seem obvious, but upon analysis can yield some paradoxical results.
In the vein of Freakonomics and The Tipping Point, Riddles in Accountable Health Care provides an educational and thoroughly entertaining look at a subject sometimes fraught with overwhelming details-and guides health care professionals, med students, and the public alike toward a whole new way of thinking about data analysis.
About the Author: Dr. Eran Bellin graduated from Harvard College and Columbia University, completing his fellowship training in the areas of internal medicine, epidemiology, and infectious diseases.
He spent nine years at New York City's Rikers Island jail, first as the director of infectious diseases establishing an effective program for the care of inmates infected with HIV and overseeing care of active tuberculosis patients. He went on to supervise a staff of 1,100 health care providers in the Montefiore Rikers Island Health Program.
Dr. Bellin is a member of the American College of Physicians, the American Medical Informatics Association, and the Health Care Information and Management Systems Society.
Currently he serves as vice president of Clinical IT Research and Development at Montefiore Information Technology. He is also a professor of clinical epidemiology and population health and medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, mentoring fellows in the clinical research training program.
