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by Keith Ray.
Original Post: Health
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In pursuit of better health, I have spent literally hours today waiting for a doctor, a chiropractor, a lab tech, and a pharmacist to do what they do, and even more hours driving from one place to another. The doctor was a last-minute appointment, and the lab work required a waiting period to measure certain biological processes correctly. Also if the prescription had been faxed to the pharmacy like usual, there would have been less of a wait there.
There was also some time spent looking for an certain doctor-recommended over-the-counter medicine at a combined grocery store/drug store, which didn't carry it, and at a "real" drug-store, which did carry it.
Each place I visited may have been very efficient from their own perspective, but all these wait, search, and transit times are signs of inefficiency from my perspective. (See "Theory of Constraints" for more on that.) This situation is not likely to change as long each of these functions is an independently-owned enterprise, and our laws and traditions will work to preserve this independence at a cost of (my) efficiency. If I valued choice less and efficiency more, I suppose a good HMO (or equivalent) with centralized infrastructure would make for a better experience. (Or maybe not.)
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