So who is Regina Herzlinger? She is definitely an innovative thinker and on the edge of the healthcare community. She is often criticized for her bold views. From her own biography:

"Regina E. Herzlinger is the Nancy R. McPherson Professor of Business Administration Chair at the Harvard Business School. She was the first woman to be tenured and chaired at Harvard Business School and the first to serve on a number of corporate boards. She is widely recognized for her innovative research in health care, including her early predictions of the unraveling of managed care and the rise of consumer-driven health care and health care focused factories, two terms that she coined. Money has dubbed her the “Godmother” of consumer-driven health care. "

She is a huge advocate and as stated "Godmother" of CDH (Consumer driven healthcare) and while there has been a lot of research disproving the benefits of shopping for your own procedures, or doctor visits I am a big proponent of the concept. With the recent macro and micro economic issues that is attributed to the lack of regulation in the financial industry, the critics of CDH just got some major ammo. 

The Business Week article describes Regina's "ideal world:"

"

 •Consumers tailor their own health-care coverage, navigating in a national insurance market.

•Everyone must buy insurance, and the federal government maintains strict oversight to ensure price and coverage fairness.

•Small, disease-specific hospitals care for patients who don't need all the services offered by medical centers.

•A national database contains the prices and outcomes for procedures at every hospital and clinic, so consumers can make informed choices.

•Individuals get generous tax breaks to buy their own insurance, with subsidies for those with low incomes.

"

As you can see there still is a huge role for the government and even more so for technology. Lets dissect each one:

1.  Consumers tailor their own health-care coverage, navigating in a national insurance market.

I don't maintain my Personal Health Record anywhere but decided to go to my Health provider's website to see what they offer. After logging in, I was shocked that aside form the claims data, I could not get any other data as it pertains to my actual health. Not even lab results that they paid for last June. So how am I supposed to "navigate" my own health coverage if I have so little details about my own health. Part of the reason for not maintaining myown PHR is the complexity of getting a unified view of my data, too many providers to choose, my PCP is not e-advanced. In conclusion, PHR accessibility and portability is key in my mind.

2. Everyone must buy insurance, and the federal government maintains strict oversight to ensure price and coverage fairness.

What is fair? Enough said!! $100 for a routine PCP visit may be fair for me but not fair for somebody else. Regionally adjusted pricing is needed.

3. Small, disease-specific hospitals care for patients who don't need all the services offered by medical centers.

How about disease-specific telemedicine providers, especially for rural areas. Just a thought.

4. A national database contains the prices and outcomes for procedures at every hospital and clinic, so consumers can make informed choices.

This goes to my earlier points. So does "national database" imply run by our government or is this a cloud-computing service provided by the likes of Microsoft Vault and Google Health collaborations?

5. Individuals get generous tax breaks to buy their own insurance, with subsidies for those with low incomes.

As you can see, there is a government role in CDH, even in Herzlinger's eyes.

Is there such a thing as a perfect healthcare free-market? We shall wait and see.