A technocrat’s fantasy

Dartmouth’s president Jim Kim wants “a whole new cadre of people committed to applying their expertise to the challenge of health-care delivery.” The cadre would consist of ” experts in management, systems thinking and engineering, sociology, anthropology, environmental science, economics, medicine, health policy and other fields.” They would “join together to apply a laser focus to fixing the delivery system.” Let’s hope they also have an editor on hand.
Writing with James Weinstein in the Washington Post, Kim informs the world that “we have begun building that cadre at Dartmouth with the establishment of a Center for Health Care Delivery Science.” If Kim had more time for philosophy, he might appreciate how ridiculous it is to call health care delivery a science.
It’s becoming clear that Dartmouth made a mistake when it appointed Kim to be its president. I take some comfort in the prospect that being the president of a small college may not be enough to satisfy someone as ambitious as Kim for very long.