An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure

Yes, the title of this post is a cliche. But, the cliche is working for CareMore, a company that provides medical care to the elderly. CareMore's philosophy is based on a concept promoted by Deming, perhaps the original management guru: you can fix a problem at step one for $1, or fix it at step 10 for $30. Most of our medical industries do not follow this concept for a variety of reasons, one being an unwillingness to spend the $1 for step one.

CareMore has adopted this concept and its working. The results are better: "a hospitalization rate 24 percent below average; hospital stays 38 percent shorter; an amputation rate among diabetics 60 percent lower than average" And, most importantly, it achieves these results at a lower cost; their overall member costs are 18 percent below the industry average.