HCP 118: Professional Essentials for a Healthcare Career

"...Healthcare accounts for one-fifth of the U.S. economy. Everyone agrees that our current system is broken and needs repair... The answers lie in customer-driven reform, enlightened governmental regulation, and full-risk payment models that reward quality outcomes, service excellence, and efficient operations..."

"Today's health care is much more than Medicine. Health care professionals and administrators must be familiar with the non-medical aspects of health care if they are to be successful. From the basics of government and private insurance, to reimbursement methods, payment models, practice paradigms and new industry trends this indispensable guide provides much-needed information for medical students and residents, emerging health care professionals, and anyone who wants a clear perspective on the requisites, protocols, and regulations of today's health care system..."

"Medicine is an ancient profession that advances as each generation of practitioners passes it down. It remains a distinguished, flawed and rewarding vocation--but it may be coming to an end as we know it. Computer algorithms promise patients better access, safer therapies and more predictable outcomes. Technology reduces costs, helps design more effective and personalized treatments and diminishes fraud and waste. Balanced against these developments is the risk that medical professionals will forget that their primary responsibility is to their patients, not to a template of care..."

This second edition of Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Decides?has been updated to consider the rising stakes for issues of life and death. Abortion, assisted dying, and capital punishment are among the most contentious issues in many societies and demand debate. Whose rights are protected? How do these rights and protections change over time and who makes those decisions? Based on the author's award-winning and hugely popular undergraduate course at the University of Texas and highly recommended by Choice Magazine, this book explores the fundamentally sociological processes which underlie the quest for morality and justice in human societies. The Author's goal is not to advocate any particular moral "high ground" but to shed light on the social movements and social processes which are at the root of these seemingly personal moral questions and to develop readers to develop their own opinions.