We are at an historic point in the US when it comes to healthcare. At the current pace, unabated, healthcare costs will double in the US in less than 10 years to $4 trillion. This is unsustainable for our economy and is on pace to consume every dollar of GDP growth. This might be understandable if the quality matched the cost. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Considering that over 47 million Americans are uninsured/underinsured and our metrics of mortality and quality outcomes reflect high levels of variation.
Due to reaching this Tipping Point, the American people, the government, and all major stakeholders in the healthcare system agree that change is necessary. As expected, there is are many diverse, conflicting views about what needs to change and how far to go. My fear today is not that the change goes to far but does not reach far enough to make a meaningful impact. Any plans that compromise too much will water down the impacts and destroy the momentum behind this critical change activity.
I run a management consulting firm and we see every day the pressing need to transform the industry. It is rare that I meet an industry player who thinks the healthcare system is efficient and effective. I am very impressed on a daily basis with the level of dedication and passion I see from doctors, nurses, and administrators. This commitment provides both a great resource for change while at the same time creating a natural barrier to doing things differently.
I recount the word of Donald M. Nelson, who was appointed by FDR in 1942 to take over War Production Board, which was a massive responsibility that involved radical changes. “We must drop the idea that change comes slowly. It does ordinarily – in part because we think it does. Today changes must come fast; and we must adjust our mental habits, so that we can accept comfortably the idea of stopping one thing and beginning another overnight. We must discard the idea that past routine, past ways of doing things, are probably the best ways. On the contrary, we must assume that there is probably a better way to do almost everything. We must stop assuming that a thing which has never been done before probably cannot be done at all.”
So moving forward, this blog will address the major facets of the healthcare system that need to be transformed and how we can reach 2010 with a cost effective, high quality, service-oriented healthcare system that is the envy of the rest of the world. Come here to discover the pulse of the healthcare system.
