A Modest Prescription to Remedy Health Care's Ills

When Dr. Paul Ellwood invented the health maintenance organization in 1970, he wanted to improve care through competition and a focus on preventative medicine. Unfortunately, it didn't work out that way. Managers at the time used HMOs to cut costs. And in spite of those efforts, climbing health-care costs are a famous fact. In 1960, health care made up 5 percent of the gross domestic product. By 2000, it hit 13 percent, according to the government.

Now Ellwood, among the most important voices in American health care during the past three decades, believes there's only one way to fix the nation's health-care system: Embrace computers. "Computers are our best and only chance of getting around the problems we've got," says Ellwood, who was a consultant to President Clinton during his failed attempt at massive reform in the '90s.

Late last year, Ellwood and his band of reformers known as The Jackson Hole Group convened for the first time in six years to take another stab at reform, this time with an IT bent. The timing—the economy is in recession and medical bills keep rising—was not happenstance.

Neither was the heavy ... // 65% Remaining