According to former CEO of Kaiser Permanente, Dr. David Lawrence, only entrepreneurs can fix our health care system. The two major flaws in our system are inefficiency and uninformed consumers.
Dr. Lawrence stated in a recent speech “The problem with incumbent medical care systems is, they don’t change.”
He is further quoted in a recent article in the Washington Business Journal, “Washington…is about the last entity you should expect help from….”
The doctor makes the following points where he feels entrepreneurs can focus to make changes in the medical care system:
Triage – helping consumers determine where to seek medical attention to start. Many times people go to the emergency room or to a doctor’s office when neither is appropriate
Navigation – knowing were to go to the best caregivers amongst those available. It now seems to be a trial and error method
Chronic illness – when given the right information and tools, patients make the right decisions and follow through.
Wellness management
End of life care – this is typically a moral decision and not based upon cost, so these costs are a huge financial burden on the medical care system
Dr. Lawrence feels what ever actions take place to improve the medical care system, all stakeholders are going to experience pain. So, we all have a challenge and difficult decisions to make.
See Ben Fischer’s article about Dr. Lawrence’s comments at Washington Biz Journal – Lawrence
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