IE Understanding Health Policy: A Clinical Approach, Eighth Edition

by Thomas S Bodenheimer

Understand how the healthcare system works - and how you can succeed in itUnderstanding Health A Clinical Approach remains the most trusted and comprehensive guide to healthcare available and provides everything you need to build a solid foundation on the field's most critical issues. This updated eight edition covers all aspects of healthcare, including finance, organization, reimbursement, the status of the Affordable Care Act and Accountable Care Organizations, the consolidation of the health system, and much more.Clinical vignettes are used to highlight key policy issues, clarify difficult concepts, and demonstrate how they apply to real-world situations, affecting both patients and professionals alike. Expert practitioners in both the public and private healthcare sectors, the authors cover the entire scope of our healthcare system. They carefully weave key principles, descriptions, and concrete examples into chapters that make important health policy issues interesting and understandable.

Paperback

Reviews

[Chris McMillan · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5

Good foundation for future learning. 250+ pages of healthcare history, commentary on recent developments (e.g., ACA), quality & access metrics, payment models, and some illustrations.

Takeaway: good luck finding a “magic bullet” for health care reform.

[Mathodical · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book provides an excellent overview of basic concepts applicable to many health care systems. It's high level enough to give a roadmap to the different components of the US health care system today, as well as ample insights into the incentives facing the different players (insurers, providers, suppliers). The book is written in straightforward language, the explanations were easy to follow, it wasn't repetitive, and I was able to tie what I read back to some of the stuff I've encountered as a consumer of health services. I am your average person with no prior knowledge or connection to the healthcare system, and I learned a lot from this book. Highly recommended.

[Grace Connors · Rating 3 out of 5]

(I read the 9th edition) I do believe it is the first textbook I have ever read from start to finish, so I think the book and myself both deserve credit for that. Much of the content is very interesting and the text is engaging. It is tricky because it is a textbook, but a few parts were tough just because they were so data-heavy, which I think could have been better delivered in graphs/tables/etc., with the text focusing on the bigger picture. It was a great read to get back into the mindset of health policy before a new semester!

[Rae (semi-hiatus) · Rating 4 out of 5]

So...I rented this for my Healthcare Economics class before my professor told us he posted the wrong book...

But I kept reading.

Of my own free will. Because this was that interesting and informative. I never knew a textbook could actually make me want to keep reading.

Even if you do not need this for a class, I recommend picking this up if you're interested in healthcare because there is a lot of good, valuable information inside. Gives you some perspectives on things!