The Long Journey Ahead

The healthcare industry remains fractured, divided and entrenched in a bitter political battle. The access and delivery of care is broken and unsustainable. To fix health care, we need a well thought out solution with all parties coming together for the greater good, rather than the short sighted “Repeal and Replace Obamacare” campaign promise that is continuing to be fought over across political party lines in our nation’s capital. This long term solution must include patients, physicians, providers, payers, CMS and government leaders in order for the end-solution to be workable, sustainable, improve the quality of outcomes for all patients, and reduce overall costs.

Because health care is delivered locally and is accessed differently in each of our communities, there’s no single healthcare reform silver bullet that will work for everyone across our nation. Our needs are just too different and too complex, so the changes that need to be made will require experimentation, trying different solutions in different localities. Some ideas will work and some will fail, but we need to focus on identifying best practices and definitive actions that actually result in achieving tangible Value-Based Care to truly improve patient centered outcomes and generate sustainable cost savings.

Unfortunately, until the nation and our leaders come together and agree to end and move past this current political battle, the real work will never begin. My hope for 2018 is that the realization of this truth will actually happen with a new focus emerging on fixing health care by working towards a long term solution that addresses the needs of all. Please join me now in the critical action of moving forward together in our journey to fix health care for ourselves and the generations to come.

I want to wish all of HCIM’s clients, affiliates, our fellow colleagues and their families a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, and a prosperous New Year.