If there’s one thing that everyone agrees on about the U.S. health care system, it’s that it isn’t, in fact, a system.
A system is organized and consistent.
A system
establishes and rewards best practices.
A system integrates diverse
elements.
A system is built on standards.
A system creates incremental
value.
There is much to be proud of in U.S. health care. We have the best doctors and hospitals in the world, the most advanced medical technology, the most prolific engines of biomedical research and innovation. We’ve shown time and again the capacity and the commitment to tackle “grand challenges,” from the defeat of polio to the mapping of the human genome.
But the sad truth is that in health care today, the whole is much less than the sum of its parts. If our health care system were a brain, it would have millions of smart neurons, but no central nervous system.
We will never fix this problem simply by tinkering with its parts. As a practical matter, and as a moral imperative, we have to address the systemic problems of health care. And the most glaring — and promising — is health care’s shocking lack of modern, networked information technology (IT), and the lost quality and efficiency that result.
The Technology CEO Council, a consortium of leaders in the IT industry, is focusing on this issue for three reasons:
- First, we believe that a high-functioning health care system presents the single best way to improve the overall health of our society and economy.
- Second, we believe that circumstances now are uniquely aligned to seize that opportunity — and that failing to do so will have serious long-term consequences.
- Third, we believe we can help. Systems are our area of expertise.
The IT industry has, over the last half century, built the systems that run virtually every important industry and public institution in America, and in the process, has transformed our national economy. Plus, as leaders of large enterprises ourselves — companies that are rapidly integrating across diverse industries, functions, businesses and parts of the world — we know first-hand the value of IT enablement, networking and integration.
The United States today finds itself in a tough battle in a globalizing marketplace, and we can’t compete if we are forced to spend 30 percent of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP) fighting a two-front war against disease and disaggregated data. Worse, it’s a war we’re losing. TheUnited States spends far more per capita on health care than any other country — yet by numerous measures of quality and patient satisfaction, Americans are not getting full value for their hard-earned health care dollars.
It’s time — indeed, past time — to bring Americans’ health care into the same century as their banking, shopping, entertainment and manufacturing.
As you read this report, you may be surprised to find a proposal from the IT industry that is not primarily about massive investment in infrastructure — although, with the United States only 16th in the world in per-capita broadband deployment, that certainly does require more work. However, in our view, the most urgent problems facing American health care — and the most promising opportunities for improving it — are not about infrastructure or computers, nor about the generation of more data.
This is less about technology than about policy. What’s most needed now is leadership. We need a new approach that reaches across government, business and the provider community to reward integration and coordination of care, not isolation … to speed the adoption of evidence-based clinical practices, not keep them in medical journals … to reinforce collaboration, not penalize it … to strengthen the doctor–patient relationship, not create adversaries.
Ask any CEO, governor, mayor or university president what his or her top financial challenges are, and the answer will be the same: “the rising cost of health care.” The nine of us who make up the Technology CEO Council grapple with this every day in our own companies. We are deeply concerned about the impact of these escalating costs on our companies, our industry, our customers and the U.S. economy as a whole — and even more, their deeper, longer-term impact on Americans’ physical and social health. The truth is, an integrated health infrastructure is a crucial part of our nation’s long-term security.
We are under no illusions. We know that the issues of American health care are complex and deeply rooted. But we also know that improved information management can make a huge, transformational difference.
We call on our peers in health care, government, insurance and business — America’s providers, payers and regulators — to join us in stepping up to this leadership challenge:
National Leadership: We call on government to leverage its position as America’s largest purchaser of health care, to demand more for its money, and to use measurement and accountability to drive value improvement and cost reduction.
Provider Leadership: We call on health care providers and insurers to establish common, transparent metrics of quality and cost and to adhere to standards that permit interoperability of their information systems and to clinical practices that conform to the best medical evidence.
Business Leadership: We call on our fellow business leaders to use their purchasing decisions to encourage delivery of the highest quality and value and to provide their employees with the personal health record tools to make better health care and lifestyle decisions.
Grassroots Leadership: We call on individual Americans to take charge of their health, to demand access to their personal health information, and to use it in making decisions about the health products and services that they and their families use.
Specifically, we call for the implementation of the seven-point program of health care reform detailed in this report. And though we compete aggressively with one another in the marketplace, our nine companies — representing more than 800,000 employees around the world — are joining together to create common tools and approaches, and to adopt these new approaches ourselves.
In that spirit, we offer in this report:
- A Call to Action that highlights our vision and recommendations
- An e-Health Progress Guide that provides benchmarks for progress and action steps for organizations and individuals
- Model Legislation for state lawmakers to review and consider
It’s time for Ameica’s unmatched technology and business creativity to focus on our citizens’ health and well-being. We have great doctors, hospitals, pharmacies and scientists. We are blessed with a national culture of pragmatism, compassion and innovation. But there’s so much more we can and must do.
We need a health care system that supports America’s future as the world’s premier hub of innovation. We need a health care system that brings 21st century networking and knowledge systems to the prevention of injury and disease as well as its diagnosis and treatment; in short, the saving of lives. We need a health care system that empowers the American people to become active partners in improving their own health — and, through their participation, enhancing the collective health of all Americans.
In a word, we need a U.S. health care system.