[skat20phys]

I agree with you regarding client-facing staff, and think the parent post has misplaced lack of concern. However, I also think the post makes an important underlying point about hospital administration generally and "where their heads were at."

Increasingly a lot of hospital administration is very profit-focused. Not all but maybe most; where it's not, it's increasing, and where it's not supposed to be it often is, but hidden.

What this means is that the focus of hospital administration is often not on epidemiology and public health, even though it should be. It should include that more. It's focused more on squeezing out the maximum from each provider in terms of billable hours and patient contacts. When you're focused on stuff like that, you're not thinking about public health.

And so we have the consequence of that now. I don't think this is the only problem -- there's also government overregulation, rent-seeking provider monopolies that artificially restrict supply of services, and lack of coverage for patients -- but it's part of it. In general, at an abstract level, healthcare in the US has become very focused on protecting the interests of the established system, and less so on the interests of citizens and patients. It's a house of cards with several problems at once, getting hit by the perfect storm.