Key Concepts

• This textbook is dedicated to improving the quality of care provided to individual patients suffering from diseases of the small intestine, colon, rectum, and anus. That care does not occur in a vacuum, but within an incredibly complex healthcare economic environment.
• Decisions made by healthcare systems, insurers, employers, government agencies, pharmaceutical companies, medical device manufacturers, professional societies, and individual providers can often be understood only when viewed in the context of the entire system.
• Our patients make healthcare decisions, including whether, when, and where to seek care, from the perspective of their individual healthcare economic realities.
• This chapter will provide an overview of the complex healthcare environment in which we work, the issues that fuel the healthcare reform discussion, and the current payment system under which US surgeons are compensated.