Tomorrow, I'm off to see Rich and Ula in Bloomington. This is going to be a 
blast. Last year was Polish barbeques, we'll see what this year brings. ;)

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I'm finishing off my midterm for MGMT522, and preparing our presentation on HCA
(Healthcare of America) for BSU584. Our presentation on HCA is going to be a
hoot, we're only elliptically touching upon HCA, as it's not terribly 
interesting (company defrauding Medicare gets caught). The real fun comes
from learning about the hospital industry in the US (think hotels for sick
people) and what pressures they're under (outpatient clinics for radiology,
dialysis, etc. popping up everywhere; medicare rates increasing at rates
less than the increases in costs of providing those services; HMOs/PPOs shaking
pennies out of hospitals). And then we get to compare the US system to the
Canadian health care system (US infant mortality rate is <a
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2004/02/12/health/12BABY.html">7.0 deaths</a> per
1000 live births, Canada's is <a
href="http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/rma/eppi-ibdrp/SI/prr2001/2001siis_e.asp?id=im">5.3
deaths</a> per 1000 live births; Guess which country has pre-natal care freely
available to everyone?)

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