What Policies Can Unbreak Healthcare? ft. Paul Keckley

Key Takeaways

1. The healthcare industry is complex, huge, and generally misunderstood. It has the capacity to undergo dramatic transformation in the next 3-5 years. The industry needs to better embrace change and not expect tomorrow to be just a slight tweak of yesterday.
2. In the next few years, healthcare policy value could be increased by shifting incentives from volume to value, connecting health and human services, and deciding the role of private capital in our system.
3. Markets are beginning to be rethought. Traditional systems are making incremental changes, while outside businesses (Walmart, CVS, etc.) are redefining healthcare without waiting or asking permission. Social determinants of health have become an integrated element of many capitated organizations — for example, addressing loneliness for seniors or food insufficiency for kids — while traditional systems pay less attention to those important elements of healthcare.
4. Policymakers at a federal level should clearly establish that the status quo of the future is not a repeat of the past. The system that we need in 5-10 years includes health and social services, and primary and long-term care as the central features. People will recognize that they can care for themselves, but they need guided self-care management tools.
5. Healthcare needs cross-industry conversations to work towards positive change. Those conversations should be composed of people from several different sectors, and free of tearing other people down for the work they’ve already done. They should address specific and technical issues and involve data and input from all the different sectors, with complete intellectual honesty.