Thrive Global recently interviewed me as part of their series on how to improve the US healthcare system. It was a great chance to share the story of what put me on the path I’m on today with Goodroot, as well as info about how each of the Goodroot affiliates serves our mission to lower healthcare costs and increase access.
The heart of the interview is the question below. I’m proud to say that the team at Goodroot is actively addressing each of these opportunities to create a better healthcare system.
As a healthcare leader can you share 5 changes that need to be made to improve the overall US healthcare system? Please share a story or example for each.
- We need to eliminate medical debt in this country. Outlawing surprise billing is a start, but we also need to address predatory pricing, aggressive legal actions and other root causes of medical debt. We need to understand, with data, what is causing medical debt and agree to start fixing those issues with all stakeholders.
- In order to reduce soaring drug costs, Congress should repeal the 1987 safe harbor law that exempts PBMs and GPOs from antikickback laws. This reform will end opaque drivers of price distortion.
- Patients should be able to access the lowest drug prices automatically at the pharmacy regardless of the insurance price for that drug. (Surprisingly, the cash price for medications — the price charged to people without insurance — is often lower than co-pays.) This will eliminate the challenge of high prices on generics and create a competitive marketplace.
- We need to start fixing healthcare by switching to a more honest lexicon. Everybody needs to understand healthcare at a deeper level to drive change. Even lawmakers don’t understand our system, which prevents them from effectively legislating improvements.
- Fundamentally we need to reclaim integrity between payors and providers. We must make it simpler to pay for care. It has become a game of misrepresenting the services provided to get more money and spending way too many resources trying to police those games.
Read the full interview in both Thrive Global and Authority Magazine.
Marketing Manager For Babylon Micro-Farms. The World's Easiest To Use Micro-Farm.
3 年Universal Healthcare. Fixed it for you.
CEO and Founder at Breez Health
3 年Having worked in the medical debt collections world for 12 years before launching Hospital Financial Assistance LLC, I can tell you that a HUGE number of patients with medical debt would have qualified for Financial Assistance if they would have a) known about the FA program, and b) completed their hospital's FA application. That said, there's a lot we can do as a healthcare industry to make Financial Assistance more accessible and patient friendly for the low-income patients that need the most help.
Founder of Nautical Miles | Premier Yacht Charter Service | Innovator in Luxury Yachting Experiences
3 年Well said Michael, couldn't agree with you more. We had a good initial call with Scott Wilson last week. We look forward to keeping the discussion going with you folks on how Rewarding HealthyHabits, LLC is doing its part at helping individuals address the financial burden of their healthcare costs.