Citing how the City of New Orleans practically rebuilt its medical system from the ground up in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, Dr. Karen DeSalvo, National Coordinator for Health IT recently said at Health Care Innovation Day in Washington, DC, "The U.S. healthcare system isn't a catastrophe like Hurricane Katrina, but it's a slow boil." An apt analogy...
While American healthcare today may not be a hurricane, it's no tempest in a teapot either. There are a host of strong gales shaping the currents of our health care system.
It's hard to deny that the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, affectionately known to many as ObamaCare, is a groundbreaking piece of legislation. The promise to provide access to health care for nearly 44 million uninsured Americans is unprecedented, not to mention ensuring more and better services around prevention, senior care, and women's health as less publicized benefits. ObamaCare is unfolding alongside some other big mandates like Meaningful Use and Information Technology-targeted mandates discussed at the recent HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) Conference.
But legislation alone can't end the storm and rescue our American health care system. Beyond policy, here are 5 forces picking up speed which, in combination, will transform the way health care is delivered, the role we each play, and the very future of health care.
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Source: Dominique Kim (www.linkedin.com)
