4 Comments

Deep sigh. Great column. Especially interesting re: lack of coverage of "deaths of despair" given their connection to Trump's rise.

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Jan 7Liked by Merrill Goozner

After reading this report its time to make New Year's Resolutions

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Jan 5Liked by Merrill Goozner

Sadly, you are preaching to the converted. However, we must continue to advocate for constructive change that will benefit future generations of Americans. Despite having the best-equipped hospitals and most thoroughly trained physicians, American healthcare is the worst value in the developed world. Shame on us!

I learned Juran's approach to continuous process improvement in the early '60s and have been applying it ever since. He and Deming were rivals, both active into their 90s, but to me their approaches were quite similar: reduce variations. What gets measured and monitored gets managed.

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Jan 5·edited Jan 7Liked by Merrill Goozner

We are in a dire state in America as you point out. But it is important to know where we stand to perhaps get motivated to do something about it. Just like Deming taught the Japanese, right? Thanks for a great column.

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