Treatment Plan for the United States Health Care System

Citizens4health developed a treatment plan for the United States healthcare system. We start from the proposition that every American has access to quality affordable healthcare by 2020 (see our vision). Having a vision and destinations we work backwards from there. Our initiatives explore the details of achieving the goals. General outcomes we expect to achieve within this time frame can be reviewed here. Action plans for each of the initiatives as well as a ten year plan for execution is being developed.

• Make available to healthcare consumers a user friendly interface to reliable, current and relevant information about the performance of healthcare providers and insurers. (Clinical outcomes, cost)

• Make available to American citizens a user friendly interface to reliable, current and relevant information about the politics of healthcare and conflict of interests

• Educate Americans about the importance of public reporting and accountability for an effective healthcare system through our Web site, by distributing educational material writing articles for media

• Increase the use by patients, consumers and citizens of publicly reported healthcare information

• Coordinate our efforts with organizations and individuals that are working to improve public reporting, accountability and transparency in healthcare and the political arena

• Provide a framework and tools for civic engagement and political involvement to improve accountability for the healthcare sector in the local healthcare environment as well as on the national level

• Create and or highlight best practice of existing efforts at public reporting and identify information necessary for consumers, patients and citizens to improve decision making.

The plan addresses the problem list identified and includes the following initiatives:

The vision of healthcare and our nation: Create a vision and a time frame to achieve it.

What is our vision of the nation?

We start with a conversation about the vision of healthcare and our nation. Having a clear and agreed upon vision of healthcare moves the conversation from short term to long term thinking and focuses the debate on how to achieve the vision. We incorporate these goals into our vision of patient-focused optimal healthcare. We recognize that there are specific groups of people, each with its own definitions of optimal healthcare, with their own treatment strategies and priorities. We have divided our efforts into the following categories and will provide information and tools for imagining Click on the following groups for more information: Healthy Adults and Children, Maternal and Infant Health, Acute Illness, Trauma, Chronic Conditions, Frailty and End of Life. (For time line for the vision of healthcare and our nation time line clink here)

Reframe the conversation to a challenge that affect all of us, we are in it together, must cooperate to achieve solutions. Challenge the media, pundits, politicians and other stakeholders to provide solutions rather than talking points. Define the roles for the stake holders. Bringing together existing pieces and provides ideas for gaps.

Create a framework for deliberative conversation: Provide guidelines for an adult conversation. The challenge is how to discuss the challenges in a rational rather than hysterical manner, to contain the contagion that can drive the financial market and restore trust in the political process if not the politicians who now make Washington DC their home. Creating a framework to address the barriers labels to elicit an emotional response that limits flexible thinking. How to mobilize technology for dialogue and problem solving?

Provide the needed data, facts and the way to gather them: Containing the contagion will require a psychological understanding and reliable trusted data, transparency and accountability. Describe the role of government in healthcare. Develop a data base of easy to understand agreed upon facts as they relate to the debt discussion. Clean the field, Identify the components. Relative performance, Performance compression. VA cardiothoracic surgery.

Civic engagement: There is a lot that the individual can do politically and personally to help assure health care excellence. Challenge misinformation and the politicians, media and others that spread it. Demand, force the government officials to address the problem clearly and communicate to allow for choice. Contact your representatives and let them know how the proposals will affect you. Track the political process and contribute to the process. Pledge of politicians Contact them and find out whether they support the vision. Dialogue with others about health care related issues of local and national consequence. Share your ideas and learn of ideas presented by others. Be part of the “collective wisdom” for “market solutions” and fresh ideas.

Progress notes: Within the next 12 months we will reframe the conversation, with the vision and goal for the process. Providing a framework for a deliberative conversation. Identify the tools for transparency and accountability for public reporting. Decide on measures and outcomes to track. Agenda for what doing for the community. National meeting to define how we want our system to function. Explore the ACA options. A framework to achieve Debt to GDP of 3%. Role of government. Relative performance, Performance compression. VA cardiothoracic surgery. Hospital out caring and out providing for their community rather than marketing.

Conclusion:

American representative democracy has been unprecedented in the history of mankind in providing a framework for personal freedom and opportunity for our citizens. However, the current fiscal crisis has highlighted the consequences of the shortcomings of the political system. The political process has been corrupted to the point that it is an existential threat to the US. We have a choice, to maintain the dysfunction of Washington and continue to watch as the cancer grows while our elected politicians, corrupted by special interest money, battle the ideological left and right wars of the past centuries, or to engage actively as the radical center focused on solving problems, and striving toward reclaiming our greatness. Together with the proper framework we can energize the political process and to provide a political voice for most Americans. As many cancer survivors have experienced, a cancer diagnosis in the 21st century is not a death sentence. Treated professionally by competent physicians and others with support of loved ones, focused energy, cancer diagnosis can be transformative. As a public we need to become energized and tackle the cancer that has grown in our politics. Our best days as a nation are ahead of us.