The Dance of Healthcare

There are an infinite number of ways to describe the U.S. healthcare system: “broken”, “expensive”, “complicated”, “innovative”, “disruptive”, “uncoordinated”. These words reflect a singular truth – there are so many contradictory perspectives and incentives embedded in the system we’ve built, it’s difficult to understand how we got here. And it’s time we come together to figure out a better way to serve our patients.

I call it the dance of healthcare – an urgent, sometimes frenetic, series of movements and motivations that can be wonderfully elegant or wildly out of synch. On one hand, we have clear science, based in evidence and proven effective. We have a unified goal of improving the human condition. Unfortunately, we also have a system that has evolved into a series of disjointed transactions that have absolutely nothing to do with helping patients.

I know, unequivocally, that our physicians, nursing staff, medical practitioners, and health plans all want what’s best for patients. But there’s a harsh reality: the current system, with all its pros and cons, is simply not sustainable. We all have great hope that we can evolve from an illness care system to a health care system. That our healthcare ecosystem partners can focus their time and resources on giving patients access to the best care at the best value. Our clinicians can reduce variations in care and improve outcomes. We can break down silos between PCPs and specialists. We can use evidence-based science to reduce uncertainty. We can communicate more seamlessly and quickly. It’s time to turn our intentions into actions.

On second thought, it’s more than a dance. For all of us, it’s a commitment to working together to improve patient care and build a healthcare system that works for everyone.