If You Can’t Do, Teach; If You Can’t Teach, Administer

One group of players in the health care system game that must be able to direct and control its costs are the various administrators. These administrators are the governmental bureaucrats and operating managers for the various medical businesses that in aggregate form the group of individuals who run the day to day Health Care System in America. You all know what “Administrator” do, they set up the rules and the procedures that everyone must adhere to in order to get the system to do anything. The administrators don’t bring any medical skills or knowledge to the system, they bring … ummm? Well, they keep it working. But because they run the system, they are in the best position to control and manage the costs. But the question is: Are they motivated to reduce the costs or raise the costs?

First up, the government bureaucrat administrators; their motivation is to grow the bureaucracy. Or perhaps it would be fairer to say that they are motivated to not let their organization shrink. They exist to define policy, procedures, and rules. They collect information and data, generate reports, and make recommendations to higher-ups and political appointees about how much they are doing. They provide forecasts and projections for their annual budgets, and they always need more. They may on occasion indicate that the only way to contain their costs is to tighten up the policies, procedures and rules and collect more data to identify where the costs are coming from. Once they have their results, they will advise that new regulations are needed to restrict the costs that actual medical service providers should get for their services; and may stick in the need for additional funding to cover their organization’s additional administrative expenses.

Next up, industry administrators: now these guys come from many different arena but they all share some common dimensions. Whether they are administering insurance company operations, hospitals, medical practices, pharmaceutical company processes, or other medical businesses; they purpose in life is to increase revenues and/or profit margins, preferably both. They must seek every way possible to bill for more, and if possible pay for less. Not exactly a group that would be the poster-child for cost savings for the customers of the health care system; since it’s the users of the health care system from whom they get their money.

We should not be surprised, if the businesses are looking to increase their profits the administrators are their operatives for making it happen.

We are not going to see a more economical health care system from these guys.