Could you elaborate?
> ...used to describe engineers and other technical folks assuming their technical knowledge of systems (usually computer, mechanical/electrical) gives them expertise in solving other complex issues.
Most of health care is a power/influence and social problem: Who gets to control things, who gets the money, who gets influence over the streams of money through the system? That's not an engineering problem but power play. Even if you _could_ show, using science, that you would get better outcomes with other methods, I don't think the people struggling for the honey pot care.
That's why thinking an engineer could build a better health care system seems misguided to me. Better machines to be used as part of the system, sure, but not the system itself. That's politics and hard-core power struggle for the money first of all. If the currently relevant people cared about the health outcomes they would already have changed the system. After all, that "U.S. Spends More on Health Care Than Other High-Income Nations But Has Lower Life Expectancy, Worse Health" (Americans Get Less Health Care, Spend More for It) [0] is not exactly news.
[0] http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/press-releases/...
[0] http://www.geraldmweinberg.com/, @JerryWeinberg
[1] https://blogs.msdn.microsoft.com/alikl/2008/11/12/three-laws...
[2] "The Secrets of Consulting", Weinberg
The shit-show that is my current engineering-built system would beg to differ.
A lot of times the "care" people get is really crappy also, in spite of expensive insurance. Oh, but they'll be sure to offer you a $30 orange juice. Then you'll be getting bills for months/years afterwords and not be completely sure what they are for.
I realize medicine is a specialty. I realize it takes a lot of training to be a doctor. But I've always believed that a lot of what medicine solves isn't unknowably esoteric. A lot of it can be solved by a person with some hands on experience and good observational powers and base knowledge (not brain surgery obviously but things like yeast infections, simple broken bones, etc.).
The whole thing really is more ripe for disruption than any other area I can think of.
Also countries that have reasonable policies don't have them because of Jeff Bezos or any single "savior" (industrial or political maven), outside of a few (but well known) exceptions; in many ways, our "faith in science" (lol) and the next high tech tweak is preventing us from delivering pragmatic, proven, reasonable solutions today