ABSTRACT
This book argues that reforming the U.S. health care system is going to require a national commitment to developing a new approach that impacts all aspects of American life. It would seem unlikely that only changing health insurance, and eliminating the uninsured, would do anything to alter the disease focus and related costs of the current biomedical approach. Consequently, this text recommends the following in order to truly transform the U.S. health care system. Create a 21st century Flexner-type committee to assess health care in America. It should not be politically motivated, but taxpayer/health consumer focused. Make the first priority of the committee to identify the potential impact of a change in health care approaches from a biomedical/disease model to a consumer-focused, wellness/health, and quality of life approach to provider education, access, and delivery. If changed, develop a transparent, health outcome-oriented method for reimbursing providers, organizations, patients, and institutions. Reassess how prescription drugs and medical devices are evaluated, approved, and marketed. Examine the importance of including interpersonal and team health communication related courses in all provider education programs. Consider, if changes are made to a health/wellness focus, the need for fewer specialists versus primary care physicians. Explore how technology can continue to be developed, but reduced in locales to minimize the need for competitive advertising and promotion among health care institutions/providers. Work interprofessionally to develop an EMR that is clinically focused, provider friendly, easy to communicate effectively in, yet accessible to, consumers and providers nationally. Investigate how health literacy and consumers’ knowledge could be improved with health-related modules in every year of education from elementary school through college. True health care reform will require effective communication, collaboration, transparency, and negotiations. For the sake of today’s and future citizens, we need bipartisan, interdisciplinary leadership to assure that a national referendum becomes a reality, not subject to the whims of the political party in power, and that the health (physical, mental, and financial) of taxpayers, not a business model, are its focus.
