Yesterday, at the conclusion of a routine office visit with my primary care physician, I asked for his opinion on the most important aspects of fixing our health care system. Actually, use of the word “system” is off the mark, because we really don’t have a health care system at all, just a bunch of component parts that don’t work together especially well. I digress.

The doctor’s eyes lit up when he realized that I was seriously interested in the topic, and what he had to say. Owing to the doctor’s kindness, love of his work, and a surprisingly slow Monday in his office, he talked and I listened for the next forty (that’s right) minutes. Here’s what he said…

Dr. J (that’s what the folks in his office call him) suggested that in order to sufficiently bend the cost curve while expanding coverage, we need to do at least three things:

1. Make patients accountable for questioning, being economically involved in, and then acting on the medical advice and treatment they are getting. He recounted a litany of instances where patients were needlessly tying up valuable health care resources (e.g., pharmaceuticals, breathing treatments for COPD, and recurring office/hospital visits) simply because they refused to quit smoking, lay down their fork, etc. He also suggested that there is a powerful link between a patient’s actually having paid something for a drug, as little as $1, and the likelihood of them taking that medicine as prescribed. He recommends a scenario whereby patients who don’t properly use the advice or treatment lose the ability to be reimbursed for it.
2. Institute tort reform as a means of reducing the tendency of medical service providers to over-test. Surprisingly, he was not in favor of capping liability awards. Rather, he suggested a pre-trial medical panel review in which a dispassionate group of docs would review the facts and issue a finding to the court as to whether or not malpractice occurred. He cited good results from a handful of states where such a policy already exists.
3. Finally, he suggested that we need to do something to prevent (as occurs presently) pharmaceutical R&D and marketing costs from being sequestered in this country due to price controls everywhere else around the globe.

I don’t know what the answers are, but I’m confident that if we all take the time and initiative to become better informed, to read and chat up our own “Dr. J’s”, make our voices heard, and demand that our elected representatives at least read any proposed legislation before voting, we’ll be miles ahead.

Godspeed!

*****

A thought leader in the arena of leadership and employee engagement, Bill Catlette is a seminar leader, keynote speaker, and executive coach. He helps individuals and organizations improve business outcomes by having a focused, engaged, capably led workforce. For more information about Bill, his partner Richard Hadden, and their work, please visit their website at www.contentedcows.com, or follow him on Twitter at http://twitter.com/ContentedCows