“Health reform is not an option. It is a necessity.”
The Record
March 5, 2009
By Paul Aronsohn
Now that the stimulus package has become reality, the President is absolutely right to make health care his next order of business.
The reason is both simple and compelling: There is nothing more important than good health. Yet, for too many Americans, there is nothing more elusive than good health care. They can’t get good coverage. They can’t get good treatments. And therefore they can’t get good care.
Granted, in many respects, there is much to applaud about the U.S. health care system. We have the best doctors…the best nurses…the best medicines…and the best hospitals. Yet, for more than 47 million uninsured Americans — and millions more who are underinsured — none of that matters. They can’t afford our great health care and, therefore, they can’t benefit from it.
This is particularly true in New Jersey , where an astonishing 1.3 million people – including more than 250,000 children – do not have health insurance.
Fundamental Principles
For that reason, we need comprehensive health reform, and we need it to be guided by eight simple, but fundamental, principles:
Patient-Centered Care: Our health care system must be focused on the patient. Period. Budget issues are important. Provider-related issues are important. But at the end of the day, all decisions should be based on one basic question: What’s in the best interest of the patient? And the two best people to make such decisions are the patient and her or his physician.
Access: Every American should have access to quality health care, without exception. In fact, guaranteeing such access is both the right thing to do and the smart thing to do. Better access leads to better health, and better health leads to better productivity and lower long-term costs to the health care system.
Prevention and Wellness: Whenever possible, we should stop disease before it happens through increased use of check-ups, screenings, health education and better diet and exercise regimens. Following the onset of disease, however, we should help patients better manage their conditions through strict compliance with recommended treatments. Again, there is both a moral imperative (the “right” thing to do) and an economic imperative (the “smart” thing to do) to preventing and managing disease.
Efficiency: When it comes to the administrative side of health care, we need to find ways to do it better, faster and cheaper. In other words, we need to make greater use of health information technology. Electronic medical records. Electronic sharing of clinical data. The technology exists; we just need to put it to greater use.
Information: Access to good health care requires access to good information. Through a greater emphasis on health literacy, transparency (i.e. access to clinical data, readable information from health plans, etc.) and patient/doctor communications, patients – and their loved ones — would be in a much stronger position to make vital decisions about their health.
Innovation: Our health care system must focus on two patients – today’s and tomorrow’s. In this context, it is essential to remember that “access” for tomorrow’s patients begins with decisions being made today in boardrooms, laboratories and the halls of government. New technologies and new medicines require long-term investment, long-term commitment and long-term vision, and we therefore need to maintain incentives for private-sector companies to make such investments.
Comparative Effectiveness: Every patient is different. Every treatment option is different. And every decision made by a physician should be based on the comparative effectiveness of any given technology or procedure or regimen. To that end, we should develop a system to generate and share information that can be used by patients, providers and payers alike -- information that will give due consideration to diverse patient populations.
Partnerships: Government can’t do it alone. The private sector can’t do it alone. Meaningful health reform will require meaningful participation by all stakeholders, including providers, hospitals, universities, advocacy organizations, insurance companies, legislators, life sciences companies and, of course, patients. There must be a seat for everyone at the health reform table.
Again, health reform is not an option. It is a necessity. Our health care system is broken in too many places for Band Aid-like fixes. We need to take bold action, and we need to take it now.
After all, millions of lives literally hang in the balance.
Paul Aronsohn, a Ridgewood councilman, leads his town’s “Access for All” disability committee and has spent several years working in the health care industry.
