"Change is not required," wrote marketing guru W. Edwards Deming. "Survival is not mandatory." If we learn nothing else from BP's recent unpleasantness, it is that being able to identify an obvious problem (eg, when oil is gushing uncontrolled into the Gulf of Mexico) is one thing. Identifying a potential problem is tougher. Toughest of all, however, is designing a solution that addresses a need early in the curve. Consider Alzheimer disease, a health care oil spill of draconian proportion. As Gina Kolata (1) wrote in the New York Times, "The failure of a promising Alzheimer's drug in clinical trials highlights the gap between diagnosis-where real progress has recently been made-and treatment of the disease." Recent significant steps forward in early diagnosis of the disease are important, and also frustrating, because there is still precious little that can be done when this devastating condition is identified either late in the game or in its nascent stages.
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