Week before last, during the cars for clunkers votes in the Senate, Sen. Tom Harkin was going around the Senate floor showing other senators the book “Why Our Health Matters” by Dr. Andrew Weil, urging them all to read it.

Maybe most have read it already, but I just finished Doris Kearns Goodwin’s Team of Rivals, her study of Lincoln, who held this country together as it was literally tearing itself apart (not so different than now to observe the nightly news) with powerful communication skills, a profound focus on maintaining balance within his own party, and an uncanny sense of timing. As the Obama presidency began, I thought the FDR era was most relevant, now I think it is definitely Lincoln’s, cause of the magnitude of our internal divisions.

My recommendation for summer reading is The Innovator's Prescription by Clay Christensen. A very interesting book and quite well written. Discusses how changing the organization and delivery of health care in order to permit more disruptive solutions could substantially lower costs and make health care more readily available to larger populations. Interesting chapters that can be read separately which apply his thinking about disruptive innovations to hospitals, primary care physicians, the medical device industry and other parts of health care.

We strongly suggest reading through Consumers Union's rankings of American hospitals. The web site is http://www.consumerreports.org/health/home.htm. This will be particularly good reading for anyone who sees no downside to blindly supporting the attack on physician owned hospitals as contained in the House health reform bill or some Senate proposals.

Because while some in Congress are trying to shut them down in the name of “healthcare reform," Consumer Reports is showing hospitals owned and operated by physicians among the very best in the country.

The independent testing and research organization released a new study last week considering the comments of over one-million patients around the country. Overwhelmingly, Consumer Reports found that patients prefer the quality of care received at physician owned and operated hospitals, supporting previous independent studies including federal government data available at the CMS Hospital Compare website.

Physician owned and operated hospitals are clearly among the best in America. It is clear that the only reason physician hospitals are being attacked is to take away competition in the hospital market place. President Barack Obama acknowledges that competition is healthy in the insurance industry – the same absolutely holds true for hospitals.

This survey should have a significant impact on anyone seriously considering patient satisfaction and quality care as true concerns in healthcare. It is neither logical nor acceptable for Congress to do away with a health care option that citizens have consistently said they prefer.

What is truely noteworthy is that that physician owned hospitals were ranked as the #1 hospital in 19 states. Considering that physician hospitals are not yet available in 20 states, this is a remarkable finding.

Looking at the full report and considering every state in which physician hospitals exist, the following are just some of the more significant results:

· Arkansas – the top 2 are Physician owned hospitals; plus 4 of the top 7 are Physician owned hospitals

· Arizona – the top 1 is a Physician owned hospital; plus 4 of the top 5 are Physician owned hospitals

· California – the top 2 are Physician owned hospitals

· Colorado – the top 1 is a Physician owned hospital

· Idaho – the top 2 are Physician owned hospitals; plus 3 of the top 4 are Physician owned hospitals

· Indiana – the top 2 are Physician owned hospitals; plus 4 of the top 5 are Physician owned hospitals

· Kansas – the top 5 are Physician owned hospitals; plus 10 of the top 13 are Physician owned hospitals

· Louisiana – the top 9 hospitals are all Physician owned hospitals

· Montana – the top 1is a Physician owned hospital, plus 2 of the top 4 are Physician owned hospitals

· North Carolina – the top 1 is a Physician owned hospital

· Nebraska – the top 2 hospitals are Physician owned hospitals

· New Mexico – the top 1 is a Physician owned hospital

· Nevada – the top 1 is a Physician owned hospital

· Ohio – the top 2 are Physician owned hospitals

· Oklahoma – the top 1 is a Physician owned hospital, plus 8 of the top 10 are Physician owned hospitals

· South Dakota – 5 of the top 6 are Physician owned hospitals

· Texas – the top 3 are Physician owned hospitals, plus 16 of the top 26 are Physician owned hospitals

· Utah – the top 1 is a Physician owned hospital

· Washington – the top 1 is a Physician owned hospital

· Wisconsin – the top 2 are Physician owned hospitals

Other physician owned and operated hospitals also rank in the top numbers in these and other states – additional data is available from Consumer Reports.

Physician Hospitals of America (PHA) is the national trade association representing American hospitals owned and operated by physicians themselves. PHA is on the web at: http://www.physicianhospitals.org

Follow PHA on Twitter at: http://www.twitter.com/physicianhosp

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Those interested in a terrific read over the August recess should get a copy of "The Cost Conundrum," an article by Atul Gawande that appeared in the June 1 issue of The New Yorker, which President Obama and others have praised. Dr. Gawande's piece explores the dramatic discrepancies in Medicare spending and negligible differences in quality of care between two similarly situated Texas border towns, McAllen and El Paso, and outlines the implications for our health care system--and reform efforts--as a whole.

Interestingly, health care problems in Texas essentially parallel those of our nation. Work by researchers at Dartmouth University shows that these differences in spending across the country are explained by differences in the amount of care ordered for patients rather than the quality of care they receive. This pattern holds in Texas. Medicare spending per beneficiary in McAllen is twice that of El Paso, with no appreciable difference in health outcomes. That's because beneficiaries in McAllen receive vastly more diagnostic tests, operations, and specialist visits but have equal or worse survival, functional ability, and satisfaction with care relative to beneficiaries in El Paso.

The problem of high-cost, low-quality regions is something health policy reformers must confront. Fortunately, we've learned from high-performing facilities and regions that an emphasis on primary and preventive care, integrated and coordinated systems, and performance-based standards for accountability go a long way toward lowering costs and increasing quality. Readers will find Dr. Gawande's article a well-written introduction to our health care quandary and a fresh take on solutions.

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I'd also recommend Kaiser's side-by-side analysis of the health care proposals in Congress.

In addition, for those who need an introduction to health reform, what reform would do for them, and why we need to do it right, I'd recommend Dr. Howard Dean's new book, Howard Dean's Prescription for Real Healthcare Reform: How We Can Achieve Affordable Medical Care for Every American and Make Our Jobs Safer.

It's a concise primer on all things health reform, written for real people, not policy wonks in Washington. It's also a cheap paperback, perfect for beach reading!

The best way to keep up on developments is easy: bookmark the John Goodman Health Policy Blog.

Best book: the one that outsells every other book except the Bible. Ayn Rand’s Atlas Shrugged.

You will find Rand’s description of the US political and economic system eerily similar to today’s conditions, even though the book was written more than 50 years ago.

Rand’s novel is at once a treatise on economics, politics, philosophy and psychology – challenging the prevailing doctrines in all four fields (this was 1958) – all wrapped up in a rip-roaring good mystery story. Along the way, she asks and answers this question: What moral obligations do human beings have to each other?

She of course endorses the classical liberal ideal: people should deal with each other on the basis of reason, persuasion and voluntary exchange. But for Rand - this is not just a political imperative, it is also a moral imperative. Each of us is morally obliged to respect the life, liberty, and property of others, and we are not entitled to use force against our neighbors to take what is theirs to meet our needs.

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As Congress wraps up legislative business and departs for the August recess, the Kaiser Family Foundation has several key reports and other resources that can help the public and its elected representatives continue the conversation about national health care reform in their home states and districts. The documents explore a range of subjects, from data on health costs and coverage to explanations of basic concepts in health reform and the results of public opinion surveys.

Key resources include:

• An interactive side-by-side that compares the leading comprehensive reform proposals by the President and members of Congress across a number of key characteristics and plan components;

• A new online chartbook on state variation and health reform that presents an array of state-level data that sheds light on the disparate impacts of potential health reform on the 50 states and the District of Columbia. The chartbook draws on data from Kaiser Statehealthfacts.org's new health reform section, which includes interactive fact sheets, tables and maps presenting key information for each state, including a general economic profile; data on health care costs and insurance coverage; and a summary of Medicaid eligibility, enrollment and spending;

• A Guide to Approaches for Covering the Uninsured that explains the key strategies for expanding coverage to the nation's nearly 46 million uninsured people and examines how different policy options can be combined to form comprehensive reform proposals; and an issue brief on five basic facts about the uninsured;

• A collection of recent polling data, including results of Kaiser's July tracking poll, that probes public opinion about health reform and the public's experiences in the health care system;

• A series of short papers explaining the major concepts in the debate, including how health reform might be financed, how health insurance exchanges work, what an employer "pay or play" requirement is and the role of the Medicaid program.

All of the materials can be found on the Foundation's health reform gateway page, which serves as a clearinghouse of key information, news and analysis about national health reform efforts. Other resources available there include webcasts of reporters-only briefings with key congressional leaders and news summaries compiled by Kaiser Health News, an editorially independent health policy news service established by the Foundation.

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However many books you read on health policy, make sure that Chaos and Organization in Health Care by Tom Lee and James Mongan is one of them. Official release is still a couple of months away, but I saw a pre-publication copy. This book is a great read. It is informed by the experience of two physicians who are involved in health care administration and have been at the center of policy debates for decades. It is devoid of ideological cant, clearly written, and replete with vivid personal experiences. It maps a road to an improved health care delivery system but also points to the potholes, wash-outs, and detours on that road that guarantee a life-time of full-employment to anyone determined to work on health reform. It sympathetically describes pet proposals of both the political left and right and then shows why each will deliver less than its advocates anticipate. When you finish the book, you will understand better what needs to be done to slow the growth of health care spending and improve the quality of care and why getting the job done will take a long, long time.