With the federal government's impending takeover of Medicare prescriptions, it's essential that Americans be able to trust the institutions of the healthcare system. The current support system was not designed, and will not support, the expectations of our aging population. To avoid healthcare by scandal in the years to come, we must redesign our current system.

The wrong message "I'm beginning to think direct-to-consumer ads are part of the problem. By having them on television without a very strong message that the doctor needs to determine safety, we've left this impression that all drugs are safe. In fact, no drug is safe. We've not done a good enough job communicating that." —Pfizer CEO Hank McKinnell in Fortune, Jan. 10, 2005.

Jonathan Seltzer, MD, MBA, is founder and president of Applied Clinical Intelligence, He can be reached at (215) 627-2100 or jseltzer@a-ci.com
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