[EliRivers]

It appears that 73% of the labor cost of a health care organization is spent on trying to communicate with other health care organizations that have no defined interface.

So if it worked properly, US healthcare would cost one quarter if what it does. Less, once the people engaged in trying to talk to each other are no longer required. That's quite a statement.

[ashark]

Considering that (IIRC) other OECD states typically sit between 40% and 60% of US spending on healthcare per-capita, and they presumably haven't actually eliminated these sorts of inefficiencies (so some percentage even of that 40% is still communication overhead) I'd say 73%'s at least plausible (could still be wrong, of course).

[jpk]

> 73% of the labor cost

Key qualifier: "of the labor cost". Presumably, there are additional, non-labor costs that may not be reduced by more efficient communication.

[tinymollusk]

"The number 73% is my dazed estimate based on informal observation and analysis conducted in doctors’ examination rooms."

from the footnote