Since you asked, I like the HCA idea but not that particular partner. I have nothing against HCA but don't feel the organization is "vanilla" enough to win the cooperation of various health care organizations as partners. Since HCA is "for profit" that is an immediate turn off for many non profit entities trying to survive. Hospitals these days are both competitive and altruistic which means one must delve into health care psyche to understand. Hospitals will try to do the right thing for patients and at the same time preserve their dignity by working with neutral parties, whenever possible, to accomplish their goals. I believe I wrote a post several months back saying the Red Cross would be the number one pick as a partner for CBAI. You get the drift.
It is difficult to compare the healthcare system to Germany or Australia or anywhere else in the world, for that matter, because it is such a conundrum of free choice and FDA regulation and expense involved in doing the right thing for a patient...we are all guessing what the future holds as a medical community ourselves as well as a country.
I don't know Matt but I think he is doing the right thing by building the infrastructure for cordblood testing, private and public banking, DNA testing, and whatever else he can lay his hands on in this business. Sooner or later the US will combine their competitive business edge with the philosophy many international companies adopt regarding giving these poor sick patients a better chance to survive without so much regulation. (Did I mention the legal world? Next time I feel more energetic I will find the link that says 9/10 doctors will order tests that are not really necessary for fear of being sued. Not so outside the US.) Sooner or later the safety deployed within the US by the FDA will be cloned with the aggressiveness of many countries not bound by regulation and tort law to provide an ideal environment for a patient with a God awful disease. So to make a long story short, my philsophy is to buy, buy, buy. GLTA
AI
