Economics, Service, Production & Operations, Health, Fitness & Dieting, Health Care Delivery, Public Health 

The practical primer to one of the most dynamic fields in economics! Thomas Getzen, a leading academic and practitioner, has authored a complete primer for the economic analysis of medical markets and the production of health. Accessible to those with little or no economic background, this book includes a foreword by Nobel Laureate Kenneth J. Arrow and will interest anyone who wants to understand the issues and economic questions associated with allocating resources to medical care. Recognizing that the exchange of care for money is complex and not easily summarized, Getzen traces the economic rationale and development of medical care organizations as well as the economic and political factors that have influenced them. The book begins with a "flow of funds" approach to describing the incentives and organizational structure of the health care system. It then outlines the continuing evolution of Managed Care in the United States. The last section of the book uses a macroeconomics perspective to explore the dynamics of change within the health care system and to explicitly consider determinants of national health spending. From the Foreword by Kenneth J. Arrow The economic problems of allocating resources to medical care have long been a major part of government economic policy, more in other countries than in the United States. The steady rise in the expenditures on medical care, out-stripping the rise in national income by a considerable margin, has brought these issues to the fore of public attention. Equally important has been the increase of explicit consideration of costs within the medical profession; the historically unwelcome trade-off between costs and treatment has come forcibly to the fore. The need for good education and good texts has become acute, and Professor Getzens book is a welcome attempt to meet this strongly felt need. - from Amzon