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Associate Professor Departments of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Economics and Policy School of Pharmacy University of Southern California Los Angeles, California
| Prepared by The Institute for the Future. Published by
Jossey-Bass, A Wiley Imprint, San Francisco, CA, 2003. ISBN 0-7879-5974-X.
Paperbound, xxiv + 400 pp. (28 x 21.5 cm), $35.
www.josseybass.com
|
Published Online, April 30, 2004. www.theannals.com, DOI 10.1345/aph.1D139
The 18 chapters represent a variety of issues that are projected to impact either health and/or healthcare services, delivery, or financing. While each chapter may appear to cover a large issue (eg, healthcare consumers), the information provided in the chapter fairly well covers the topic of interest, especially for the knowledgeable reader. Because a rather wide variety of subjects is covered (eg, information technologies, mental health, managed care), the reader may gain some understanding on less familiar topics, but might be better served by reading a more general textbook or article about the subject. By its nature, the book might not be as useful to undergraduate students, first-year professional students, or general readers who are just learning about an issue. Rather, it would be more useful to faculty, graduate students, those working in the healthcare industry, and others who can choose the chapters of interest, understand the nuances of the issue, and appreciate the authors' view of the future based on data and information provided. In addition, the book would be a good acquisition for libraries as a reference text.
Mostly, I found this volume to be very interesting and insightful. Because there are few books of this type, the information is useful and needed. The contributors include well-known individuals in the healthcare field. The Institute for the Future (IFTF), in existence since 1968, has a history as a company that specializes in long-term forecasting. Thus, the information is presented in a high-level and useful way.
Although the book is generally very good, a few concerns should be noted. In the first chapter, "Health and Health Care Forecast, Executive Summary," no mention was made of new Medicare legislation providing a prescription drug benefit to the nation's elderly, one of the biggest issues in 2003 and certainly one surrounded by controversy. In Chapter 2, "Demographic Trends and the Burden of Disease," Figure 2–4 has a problem in the color-coding of the legend (Asian does not appear in the figure). In Chapter 3 and several other chapters, unfamiliar or unusual acronyms are used (although included in the list of abbreviations at the beginning of the book), which makes reading, even for someone experienced in the healthcare field, more cumbersome. In several figures throughout the book, the IFTF is listed as the reference, but the source is unavailable to the reader. In other parts of the book, I wished the interesting information presented had been referenced. Chapter 6, "Health Care Providers," was so lacking information on the (growing) role of the pharmacist in healthcare delivery and chronic disease management that this deficiency spoiled an otherwise interesting chapter. For some issues (eg, in the managed care field), I found the future predictions to be a familiar reality in some healthcare markets. In Chapter 7, "Health Care Workforce," the role of women in health professions schools (especially the growth in medicine) and the impact on supply of physicians was not addressed. Finally, a chapter on quality assurance might have added meaningful information to the book.
In summary, Health and Health Care 2010 is an excellent work that provides insight about a wide variety of issues that will possibly impact the future of health and health care. At a reasonable price, it provides a great deal of useful information in table and figure format. It is most useful to those already working in the healthcare field or graduate students rather than undergraduate students or those unfamiliar with the many issues in the healthcare field today.
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