The Emperor Needs New Clothes or Why the Care Disappeared from Health Care is a book written by a friend and patient advocate colleague, Jeff Weinberg, M.ED, M.PH, NHA, BCPA. His book shows the many deficiencies in the U.S. Healthcare System and offers real-life solutions, resources, and a call to action for change.

The title intrigued me as I needed to understand how it related to healthcare. I looked the saying up and found it came from Hans Christian Anderson’s fable, The Emperor’s New Clothes. The tale is about a vain king preoccupied with his appearance and wardrobe. The King hired a pair of swindlers who took advantage of this by pretending to be able to weave the finest cloth, which couldn’t be seen by people who were either unfit for office or were particularly stupid. The King decided to have a suit of clothes made from the fabric to test which courtiers were unfit for office.

As he didn’t want to appear stupid or unfit to rule himself, he pretended to be able to see the new clothes, as did all his courtiers. He paraded the ‘new clothes’ through the streets, and the onlookers, also not wishing to appear stupid, all admired them. A small child, who didn’t understand the apparent necessity for pretense, piped up, ‘But he has nothing on!’. The pretense bubble burst and all the onlookers soon repeated what the child had said. At the same time, the King continued the procession, attempting to maintain his dignity by pretending nothing had happened.

After reading this, I understood the analogy and how it relates to healthcare in that we all see a fragmented, complex, costly, and at times dangerous system but do nothing to call it out, so the inequities can be addressed.

Throughout the book, Jeff provides personal stories to show how the system is failing the people it is in place to help. I am honored Jeff used my story to show the importance of having an advocate at your side when you are thrust into the healthcare system.

Jeff explains that profits have become the main driver of the healthcare executives who run hospitals, insurance/managed care organizations, long-term care facilities, and other healthcare entities. Executives think that if you put on a good face, the public will see a nice facility – yet the inadequacies that take place throughout the system are not addressed to the detriment of the patient, the family and the healthcare team.  Like many who see the system for what it is, Jeff calls it to be torn down and rebuilt.

I do believe that most people working in healthcare are doing their best to care for the people they are called to care for. Yet with the way the system is being run, physicians, nurses, social workers, aides, and other essential personnel are leaving their jobs as the system makes it impossible for them to do their work in the way they were trained and they cannot put up with it any longer. We are truly at a tipping point in healthcare and action needs to be taken at all levels but especially from the public, the consumers of healthcare. Their voices will make change happen. Today, consumers are seeing healthcare for what it is and are demanding change as they are paying more and more for services and want better care for themselves and their loved one.

This book is a must-read for the public as well as healthcare professionals as it traces the roots of our system and where we went wrong. It also offers real-life solutions that every person can use when they enter the complex healthcare system. The book is available on Amazon! Get your copy today!

Have a good week!