The Systems Approach to the National Health Problem

The practice of medicine is presently undergoing considerable modification due to technological innovations. There is a constant flow of new drugs, new treatment methods, new diagnostic techniques and new administrative procedures. In some respects, this plethora of new developments has proved an embarrassment to the medical system. New drugs are marketed and then withdrawn as side effects are manifested; pre-paid medical plans and hospitalization insurance rates are continually modified to keep pace with the new services provided; and the average practitioner has difficulty keeping abreast of new developments while trying to provide maximum service to his patients. In order to enable this system to function effectively in the face of increasing technical advances, the medical profession will have to draw on the resources of systems analysis. This is the only way in which the interrelationships of the different parts of the system can be understood, hopefully to the point where it will be possible to predict the effects on any particular part of the system of changes made in other parts. Since the feedback loops of large social systems such as the medical system are still not well understood, the use of gaming and simulation procedures is proposed as a first step toward such a systems study.