Denver's Emergency Room Scene

George in Denver offers his detailed impressions of a recent emergency room visits to Lutheran and St. Joseph's hospitals, that says as much about our health care system as it does about his own moment of personal distress.

I come away with the same conclusion that I had after my dad's experience at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, and a lot of studies I've read about health care quality. Health care quality and efficiency have as much to do with the quality of the administrative side of the operation and a lack of good systems as it does with technology or the skills of particular practitioners. The quality of the administration of our hospitals and doctor's offices is often mediocre. And, the way health insurance companies are run is an important contribution to this mediocrity.