U.S. Healthcare .....Bent But Not Broken

I am unapologetically a glass is half full kind of guy. Always have been.

However with the increasing demands on the health system, constrained funding, partisan politics and intense media hype, it has become more and more difficult, even for the eternal optimist, not to get sucked in by the "broken health system" rhetoric.

Last week, I was invited to attend the Medifuture 2024 meeting hosted by leading industry consulting firm, Oliver Wyman, in Tampa. The meeting brought together senior executives from the country's largest health plans, hospital systems, providers and a handful of innovators and activists to share, discuss and inspire action in reshaping the approach to health, wellness and healthcare in the U.S..

On full display was some of the finest, most forward thinking initiatives in health, wellness and healthcare in the U.S. today. Initiatives like Esther Dyson's powerful Way to Wellville initiative aimed at improving community health through local grassroots initiatives targeting local social determinants of health. Like the evolution of Florida Blue to Guidewell, which is integrating the provider, payor, consumer model into a true collaborative health ecosystem. And like Caremore's (www.caremore.com) and IDEAL LIFE's innovative approach to effectively sharing risk and driving real health improvement and savings through the use of integrated remote patient monitoring. And the list goes on and on.

The point is this. While the media is spinning on the state of the healthcare system and the whether is beyond the point of repair, there are innovative, engaged and excited individuals and organizations who are making tremendous headway in re-imagining and redesigning healthcare as we know it. While the system may be bent, it certainly cannot be broken as long as this level of passion and commitment to making the system better exists.