Steve Forbes takes aim in his latest Forbes magazine column at a key flaw in the American health care system.
ONE OF THE MOST shocking and deadliest characteristics of American healthcare is how long it takes–often many years–for breakthroughs in care and medical devices to become commonplace throughout our medical system.
One recent example is in the detection of breast cancer. Mammograms aren’t very good at discovering early-stage cancers in women who have dense breast tissue, which accounts for about 45% of all women. But there is a major advance whose efficacy has been confirmed in a study conducted by the Mayo Clinic . It’s called molecular breast imaging (MBI), and it vastly improves the chances of early detection.
You’d think a mammoth breakthrough that could literally save hundreds of thousands of women in coming years would be rapidly adopted, not to mention make headline news.
Think again. The pace has hardly been rapid.
