Saturday, January 9, 2010

Healthcare Reform by House

In a recent episode (“Epic Fail”) of the TV series “House,” the hospitalized patient, Vince, posts details of his case online. One of his attempts at online self-diagnosis is based on “the wisdom of crowds,” as he explains “studies show the collective decision of a group can be more accurate than any individual’s decision.” This effectively put the team of doctors in competition with the Internet. Eventually his online quest did work, but I won’t describe that here. My important takeaway was the possibility of using “the wisdom of crowds” in healthcare. It doesn’t take many trips to a doctor to realize that medical care is just like any other undertaking. There will always be those who are better than others. The writers of House have proposed one method of reforming healthcare which could provide every patient with the absolute best possible care. It was thought provoking at the very least.

While this episode was not my favorite, if you are into IT and a follower of the series, you should be sure to '>watch. I doubt any video game programmers will be impressed, but it certainly addresses the collision of modern day healthcare with the Internet.