Beware people who list themselves as "futurists." They can be wickedly fun, insightful and terribly wordy.

Case in point, Ian Morrison. I've heard him speak twice, and just finished reading a ridiculously long Power Point presentation he made at a California Association of Public Hospitals event (available at http://www.caph.org/conference/IanMorrison.pdf )

No particular neuron activity is required to say health care is a mess but to (sometimes) say it well, eases the (relentless) pain and (maybe) sharpens the mind.

Here are some snippets from Morrison's slides:

• Quality of health care today: We are worse than Shaq from the line
• Patients are getting older, fatter and crankier one year at a time
• Fat people meet skinny benefits
• The battle for quality: IOM versus "Pimp My Ride" (Morrison then describes IOM, the national Institutes of Medicine as "Charles Schwab meets Nordstrom meets Mayo Clinic." He describes "Pimp My Ride" as health care built on a weak chassis with too much technology that breaks down when you try to do anything with it.)
• And the Honda reference -- what Americans are doing to themselves, becoming Hypertensive, Obese, Noncompliant, Diabetic and Alcoholic (or All Systems Failing).

With all of Morrison's words (more on his personal Webs site, www.ianmorrison.com ), you lose a sense of what's really the kernel of truth. And, instead, you look for things to laugh at while you smell Rome burning.