Will Aneesh Chopra (New CTO) Teach Obama A Thing or Two

From a speech Aneesh Chopara gave in 2006

To make health care and other core services more readily available to people in need, management efficiencies will never go far enough, he said, speaking Sept. 10 at the Commonwealth of Virginia Innovative Technology Symposium.

During the group’s travels, they visited a hospital dedicated to heart care. More than 6,000 patients have open heart surgery at the hospital each year, with surgeons performing an average of 14 a day at a cost of $1,500 each. In contrast, the average doctor in the United States performs at most four a day, at a cost of $35,000 or more, Chopra said. Yet the doctors in India do not make dramatically less money than their U.S. counterparts, he said.

Electronic medical records are another example of where the debate must change. EMRs have the potential to improve care for everyone, but such systems can cost $30,000. Many people are wondering how physicians will pay for that, Chopra said, when they really should be asking how to lower that price to $1,000