Cost or Quality: Why Our Thinking About Healthcare Spending is All Wrong
Program Titles
- Health 2035: The Future Micro-, Mega- and Gigatrends in Healthcare
- Don’t We All Deserve the Best Patient Experience?
- Preventive Medicine
- The Impact of Information Technology on Health Care.
- Fixing the Health Care System — Begins with Physicians
Barry P. Chaiken, MD, MPH, is a passionate patron of medical informatics in healthcare information technology, clinical transformation, and business intelligence, giving him a unique perspective on the complex and ever-evolving healthcare field. He has served as a lecturer on topics including patient safety, clinician adoption of information technology, quality improvement, and managed care.
Barry’s passion for the subject and action-oriented guidance are exactly what today’s business is searching for. He tailors to the interest of each audience, and his presentation accommodates the needs of both healthcare and non-healthcare attendees.
Health maintenance organizations, capitated plans, restricted networks, and accountable care organizations were all created to manage the cost of care. But is cost the right place to focus? These strategies were unsuccessful in controlling costs as the U.S. surpassed $4 trillion in healthcare spending. Instead, our focus should be on the same thing that all our other purchases are based on – value. Artificial-intelligence-designed workflow, digital workers, and analytics-influenced processes are some ways revolutionary information technology can bridge the value-cost gap.
Rather than focus on what we spend on healthcare, we must aim to deliver value and decide how to invest our resources.
The U.S. offers the best healthcare services in the world. Or does it?
Can a patient in rural Iowa access the same level of care as someone in Boston?
The recently expanded use of telemedicine helped reduce the regional gap in care, but more evolution is necessary. Our embrace of precision medicine is just beginning, and new information technology tools are helping to make it a reality. Replacement organs will first be harvested from animals, followed by their assembly cell by cell. Combination medications with dosing specific to the individual are printed daily in the home. The patient experience will be seamless and comprehensive.
The expansion of healthcare information technology will drive these trends and help us secure the best care for ourselves and family.
Quality, safety, access, and affordability of care.
Sure, they are top of mind for all patients, but is that all we should care about?
Aren’t we consuming healthcare services, and therefore that makes us consumers?
Perhaps our patient experience should mimic our consumer experience, where care is patient/consumer-centered. And that includes how we interact with our providers, payers, and caregivers. The technology we use in our daily lives can be applied to enhance our patient experience and help ensure we obtain the best possible health outcomes.
“Barry P. Chaiken’s knowledge, authenticity, passion, and down-to-earth style create an engaging and eye-opening view of healthcare and its future.”
Books by Barry P. Chaiken, MD, MPH
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