Dr. Ted Epperly, a Boise family physician, director of the Family Medicine Residency of Idaho and former chairman of the American Academy of Family Physicians, recently published a book entitled, "Fractured: America's Broken Health Care System And What We Must Do To Heal It." He says our current system is focused more on disease and sickness than on wellness and health, creating a society where many are living sick and dying young. He'll discuss it tonight on Idaho Public Television's "Dialogue" program, with host Joan Cartan-Hansen; the show airs at 8:30 p.m. Mountain time, 7:30 p.m. Pacific.

In the book, Epperly draws on his decades as a family physician and his experience in the military to describe how the nation can reduce costs and improve people's health. "I want to elevate the dialogue beyond rhetoric and spin, and help make the central issues crystal clear so that America can arrive at the best possible solution for our people and for our nation's health," he said. Epperly also is a clinical professor in the department of family medicine at the University of Washington School of Medicine, and is among those recently appointed by Gov. Butch Otter to working groups examining Idaho's options in the wake of the U.S. Supreme Court's decision upholding the national health care reform law. There's more information here on tonight's Dialogue program, which also will re-air Sunday at 10:30 a.m. Mountain time, 9:30 a.m. Pacific.