You need a sick care systems dashboard

Sick care USA is a siloed, sick, sick care system of systems masquerading as a healthcare system. Unfortunately, too few decision makers in Washington, state capitals, and corporate board rooms are ignoring the SOS.

They are suffering from the Titanic effect.

This book, from award-winning business school professors and a tech serial entrepreneur, tells what makes startups successful. Instead of telling startups what to do, like most startup books, they share what startups should avoid. Along the way, they share small business startup success stories gleaned from the How Built This Podcast and their firsthand experiences. These stories of startup success are contrasted with stories of startup failure from startup graveyards and most notably, the Titanic. Like many of today’s startups, the Titanic hoped to disrupt the transportation industry of its time. It fell short, to a disastrous outcome, from the same sources that prevent startup success today.

The Titanic sank, in part, because those that built it and captained it suffered from multisystems failures.

Systems analysis is "the process of studying a procedure or business to identify its goal and purposes and create systems and procedures that will efficiently achieve them". Another view sees systems analysis as a problem-solving technique that breaks a system down into its component pieces and analyses how well those parts work and interact to accomplish their purpose.[1]

The field of system analysis relates closely to requirements analysis or to operations research. It is also "an explicit formal inquiry carried out to help a decision maker identify a better course of action and make a better decision than they might otherwise have made."[2]

One of the disciplines of strategic thinking is strategic analysis.

Systems analysis is crucial for navigating complexity in modern organizations and markets.

Key points:

It involves creating models that capture the most important features and dynamics of a system

These models are necessarily simplifications, as no human or computer can flawlessly model all variables and interactions in complex systems

The goal is to create models that are useful for prediction and decision-making, not perfect replications of reality

Example: Climate models

They simplify extremely complex atmospheric interactions

Yet, they capture key features that allow for useful predictions

Developing this skill:

Study systems thinking principles

Practice creating simple models of complex systems in your organization

Focus on identifying key variables and their interactions

Identify leverage points

Focus on limiting factors

Recognize the impact of feedback loops

Beware of non-linearities and tipping points

Your car has dashboard warning lights that tell you when a component is not working or needs maintenance or adjustment, like low pressure in your right rear tire.

So should your organization. You need a medical practice automation and feedback system.

The Ultimate Guide to Medical Practice Automation in 2025

Just don't think that you can fix everything by consulting the owner's manual.

Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA is the President and CEO of the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs on Substack