Civil Society/Medicine/Theme

 Maybe you're a healthcare executive bent on bleeding every penny from your network of providers. Perhaps you're an exhausted and overworked orderly, just trying to ease the suffering of your patients and pay for your own insulin. Maybe you're a doctor dedicated to delivering the very best outcomes for your patients, but caught in a web of bureaucratic red tape and insurance billing nightmares. The point is, the state of medicine in the Delaware Valley is a microcosm that reflects the state of health care in america. It's expensive, full of promise and potential, but hamstrung by corporate interests and governmental neglect. Depending on your position within that web, you can struggle in your own way to push that situation one way or another one patient at a time.

 While there is a great deal of competition in health care, it's mostly among administrators and executives vying for control of networks and institutions. With so many hospitals, medical campuses, and offices opening around the region there is a tremendous shortage of qualified nurses and doctors. Even middle of the road graduates are virtually guaranteed work upon graduation. So down in the trenches, things can be quite cooperative and collegial. For the most part, caregivers actually do care about their patients. It's the industry, the bureaucracy, and the money that gets in the way.

 So what brings you in today?