Who’s Building An American Health System?

We asked the contestants to send us their biographies and the reasons they entered the contest. Here are their replies. This is not all of them, but a good sample of the range of the people who are entering and why. They are from 32 states and one from Ontario, Canada. The names appear in random order and are not linked in any way to the executive summaries that are also listed herein.

Kathleen O’Connor
August 11, 2003/September 28, 2003

Wendy from New York

I live in a rural area of northern New York with my husband and two children. I previously worked as a business operations analyst for Digital Equipment Corporation; I left that position to become a full-time parent. I recently returned to school and am completing a business / health services degree.

I joined this contest because I believe that our current health care system is inequitable, costly and ineffective, I don’t believe that positive and significant changes will be effected without a tremendous amount of involvement and pressure from the public, and this is my way of getting involved.

Lou from Iowa

I was born in December 1909 and reared in Cincinnati, Ohio. My family had limited financial resources because of much medical expense (my mother had many serious illnesses and my elder brother died of tuberculosis in the spring of 1928 when I was in high school). I went to the well heavily endowed Maryville College where I met Ernestine Smith, with whom I have just celebrated our 68th Wedding Anniversary.

I graduated from Maryville in 1932 with a major in economics and minors in psychology and sociology—hoping to go into banking. Because of the depression, there were no opportunities for me in banking but I was able to get a job as a social worker which led to my employment as the 750 bed Cincinnati General (University Hospital).

My administrative experience in a city, county, state and private hospital has provided a variety of insights to the health care delivery problems in the United States. This stimulated me to attend a 1971 American College of Hospital Administrators seminar in London to study the United Kingdom health system which had been operating for twenty-five years. During my “retirement” my reading, writing, and communicating has focused on the need for fundamental reform of health care delivery in the US which, as you know, is the only one of the leading industrialized nations not having a health care delivery system with universal coverage.

My personal efforts to encourage our senators and members of commerce to support fundamental reform have been disappointing to say the least. I was delighted to learn of your contest and to try to be a part of it.

Stan from Louisiana

Stan and his wife Joan, are the parents of three young ladies ranging from ages 13 to 22. He is a baby boomer just several years away from becoming an elder boomer. They are long time residents of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Stan is a history graduate of LSU and a LSU Law School graduate. For the past 18 years he has been an attorney for the second largest health plan provider in Louisiana. During this time he has observed the impact of escalating health care costs on employees, employers and families.

His goal is to suggest some solutions based upon some items that have proven beneficial and some problems needing containment in the realm of his experience. He also is pleased that the contest is sponsoring a debate to build a new health care charter in 2003, while America has time to rebuild the system in an orderly manner, before baby boomers become elder boomers. He is pleased to participate in an effort to build a system with participants from across America, rather than a system designed only by the Washington beltway lobby structure. This contest and testing of ideas could serve to create a new charter for health care in America for the next several decades.

Finally, if he is fortunate enough to becomes a finalist he hopes to have a chance to "study" the history of Jimmy Hendrix at the beautiful "groovy" new music museum in Seattle. Peace y'all.

Bill from Virginia

Bill worked for Members of the House of Representatives for 36 years, starting the year Medicare was enacted. He has been especially frustrated by the stalemate in Congress and hopes new ideas can result in a breakthrough for solving the problem of the uninsured. According to the Institute of Medicine's recent report, about two people an hour die prematurely and unnecessarily because America has failed to solve this problem--and that should be a moral outrage to each of us.

Evan MD from Pennsylvania

Evan is a first-year resident in pediatrics at The Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. Evan graduated summa cum laude from Princeton University in 1998, with an AB in Public Policy, focusing on health care from the Woodrow Wilson School. In 2003, Evan graduated with an MD and MBA from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine and The Wharton School. His wide-ranging interests have focused on chronic illness in children, pediatric rheumatology, road safety, and public policy related to health care. These interests stem from his own personal life experiences with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) as a child and being the victim of a motor vehicle crash caused by a visually impaired driver during college.

In the summer of 2002, Evan worked full-time at CHOP as the administrative fellow for Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disorders (LEND), which is funded by the Maternal and Child Health Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. In this role, Evan worked under the hospital's vice president of resource management and family services, analyzing funding streams for children with chronic illness and special health care needs. He has presented on the topics of children with special health care needs, public policy, and advocacy to physicians, housestaff, families, hospital executives, and community groups. He completed the fellowship with two posters and an oral presentation, and won the prize for Innovate Research with the Potential to Impact Change.

After having done work on the issue of children and chronic illness and challenges they face in getting needed services, it became obvious that Americans in all groups face the same issues. In designing a theoretical construct for improving medical care, quality and access for children with special needs, I developed my plan to achieve universal coverage while addressing the special needs of the chronically ill. I felt a balance between social supports (through government) and free market incentives (when appropriate) was the best answer. When I read about the O'Connor contest and its goals, I thought my proposal was the type of idea desired.

Melvin from Oregon

I’m a 51-year-old self-employed human resources consultant and entrepreneur trying to reboot his life after a reversal of fortune. Much of my professional life has been at the periphery vs. center of health care. Nevertheless, personal and professional experiences have instilled, through insight and impact, strong impressions about America’s system.

As a former human resources executive, I attempted to compete for talent with innovative health plan design. As a venture team member working with physicians trying to offer a more sensible model of care, we were confronted with the obstacles imposed by myopic reimbursement controls. As a Fortune benefits planner, I was confronted with trying to manage runaway health care costs. Later while self-employed, I found individual family coverage increasingly unaffordable. At one point, I served as a public health planning commissioner faced with a lack of funding for the indigent; a decade later I was engaged as a consultant to a visionary community for the affluent, where innovation drove design.

Shortly after college, I worked on a highly progressive primary prevention initiative in behavioral health. Ironically, I have wrestled with patterns of personal and family addiction my entire life. Once a millionaire with an arrogant free market ability to procure private pay services, I fell with amazing speed to the status of bankrupt father and husband struggling to meet premiums and out of pocket medical expenses. Patterns and perspectives were bound to form from the collective soup of these life vignettes.

No less than three family members and friends advised me on the same day that “this lady in Seattle” was challenging America to come up with a better health care system. Perhaps these folks felt that if I channeled my energy into this process, they would enjoy some temporary relief from my diatribes on a topic I have become so passionate about.

Why did I compete? It appealed to me as a health care consumer, frustrated time and again with the problems of access, cost and fundamental assumptions inherent in the system. It appealed to me as a business professional, one employed directly and indirectly by our health care system. It appealed to me as a citizen, dismayed with the conclusion that “we the people,” have allowed our democracy and as a part of it, our health to be hijacked by rich and powerful special interests. It appealed to me in a deep, personal way, that as part of my own spiritual journey, an application of pen to paper would be cathartic. The possibility that it might even contribute in some small way to something more than another episode of “sending electricity through a sponge,” rooted pretty quickly as a call to arms I couldn’t resist.

David from Minnesota

David is a reformed systems analyst and still-certified project manager who now happily spends his daylight hours painting in the tradition of the Old Masters. Before this contest awakened memories of seven years in electronic patient records and billing he had composed a Credo, to be submitted to Oxford University Press later this year, and written a play which had a reading at The Playwright's Center. He lives in Minnesota with his wife -- of whom he is rather fond -- and two cats -- of which he is rather not.

Sharon from Oregon

I am a friendly, outgoing, intelligent woman who has a deep compassion for my fellow human beings. I've had a career in education and healthcare. I am presently retired.

I entered the contest because I am truly committed to the notion that everyone is entitled to the best in healthcare regardless of ability to pay. I feel strongly that no one should profit from someone else's illness or accident. I felt your contest may allow me to have a voice in this regard.

The congressional senators and representatives for my district are as follows: (note -- when I write them I always get a response from Peter Defazio and the response tells me he read my letter. I never hear from Wyden and Smith and I am assuming they exist but I have no evidence in regard to their responding to anything I write).

Karen MD from Alabama

Karen was born in Birmingham, Alabama in 1953. She graduated from the University of Alabama in 1975 and completed medical school at University of Alabama School of Medicine in 1975. She completed her residency in Family Practice in 1982. She has practiced for 20 years in a variety of settings: urgent care; major cities; and for the last 11 years in a rural county in Alabama.

I entered the contest because I wanted to voice my opinions and ideas. I see incredible waste and abuse in our present system that just cannot continue. I have observed "medicine" in third world countries on three medical mission trips. We in the United States must stop squandering the world's resources. We must take responsibility before it is taken away from us.

Michelle from Florida

I am a 51 year old divorced woman who has spent the vast majority of her working life in the field of benefit and/or benefits administration at companies like The Equitable, American Dental Examiners and Paid Rx. I relocated to Florida from the NY Metro area a few years ago to care for my terminally ill mother and decided to stay. Currently looking for work so I can accomplish that goal.

I entered the contest because the subject matter was well within my area of expertise and it provided me with an opportunity to explore new concepts.

Jim from Pennsylvania

Jim is a tax attorney who thinks that the Infernal Revenue Code is at the root of all health care policy evil in the country. He decided to enter so that evil (single payor systems) would not go unopposed (and because he didn't understand how much work it would be). His primary qualifications are a disdain for HIPAA and COBRA and a rejection of Keynesian economics long before it became fashionable. If anyone has a proposal that would eliminate more government mandated paperwork than his, he would like to read it. He specializes in employee benefits law (ERISA) in Pittsburgh.

Dave MD from Arkansas

I am 78 and retired. I graduated from Case Western Reserve University School o f Medicine. After Military service I began Family Practice in an Arkansas town of about 10,000 and have been active politically most of that time but not much in politics of medicine preferring to use my political activity as an avocation and as an escape form the my first love, medicine.

I have held several positions of statewide application including Chair of the State Board of Higher Education and I headed a group that abolished the poll tax and set up a system of permanent voter registration in the sixties. The voter registration system is still in place.

I entered the contest because of a deep an abiding interest in the subject of a national health care system. Your contest represented a chance for me to get my views before a national audience. Winning would be nice but is of secondary importance.

Gary from Connecticut

I am an individual with a bachelor’s degree in accounting and a masters in systems analysis. I have worked as: an internal auditor for a large insurance company; an administrator dealing with employee benefit costs; and as a computer programmer of applications relating to employee benefits. I've also been married for years to a psychologist who has dealt with the other side of insurance claims

I came across the contest web site while searching for health insurance for my own family. I had already developed the outline of a solution to the health care problem several years ago while studying public policy in college, and I had even mentioned the essence of it in a letter to a legislator. But the contest prize money, the anonymity provided by the contest rules, and the quality of the judges led me to believe that my idea would finally get serious consideration here, so that prompted me to refine the concept and enter it into the contest.

Thanks for all your efforts.

Jeff from Maine

I’m a journalist based in Portland, Maine, reporting, photographing and editing for a local, weekly newspaper company and freelancing for other publications in the region. I entered the contest because I wanted to know more intimately the issues involved in the nation’s health care system. This contest provided a framework, a challenge, and a deadline! Thanks!

Eric from South Dakota

I spent my formative years on a farm in south central Nebraska. I served in the U.S. Marines and was honorable discharged in 1974. I attended college in California and South Dakota studying business administration, mechanical engineering, and psychology. I worked with machined metal products and in the aerospace industry for many years. In 1991 I went into business for myself. At that time I also set out to change laws in South Dakota concerning workers compensation. Later, while setting up a trucking company, I found that the conduct of the trucking industry was highly illegal. I again felt a need to work with legislators and bring much needed change to the industry. I have continued this work for the past four years. I have written several bills, one of which was introduced in the 107th congressional session. This bill will be reintroduced in this session as well. I intend on continuing to lobby on issues in Washington, DC.

After conducting my own research I completed a document of American reform. In this document I outlined a reform plan for health care. When I heard about the contest I was very pleased to see someone taking steps to go outside the norm to seek changes in the health care industry. I am anxious to see this industry change.

Deborah MD from Washington State

After ten years in the field of pediatrics, the failings of our current health care delivery system are very apparent to me. I am all too familiar with the difficulties parents face when trying to obtain care for their children in a user-unfriendly system, and with the reams of paperwork we complete in the interest of "controlling costs." I shake my head daily at the redundancies and waste in our current health care environment. Several years ago, I served on the boards of both a struggling regional health plan and a multi-specialty clinic in an under-served rural area in an attempt to understand why health care in the United States is so complicated and inefficient. I received a rapid education about the challenges facing care providers and administrators in a highly competitive, highly confusing, highly regulated environment. The more I became aware of our system's problems, however, the more unsure I was of the appropriate solutions.

For me, this contest has been an opportunity to finally understand the dynamics of the system in which I have worked for the past decade, and a tool for generating some meaningful discussion of our health system’s current problems and-more importantly-potential solutions.

Patricia from Washington State

I am a Native American woman of Choctaw and Navajo descent. I was reared on the Navajo reservation and worked in the Health and Human Services profession, particularly in Behavioral and Social Services as an administrator for tribal public service programs. I am a Practitioner of the Blessing Way Ceremony principles and have traveled to other countries to teach Native American Spirituality. I am one of the original writers of THE BEAUTY WAY. . . A WAY OF LIFE CURRICULUM, k-12 and I now write under the name Native American Concepts to translate spiritual holistic health and healing promotion into therapeutic English concepts. Currently, I am a student in the Whole Systems Design program in the Center for Creative Change at Antioch University.

I entered the O’Connor health care plan contest as a citizen to participate in a public forum. I wanted to express the possibilities for re-framing creative solutions to the current health care dilemma and I wanted to research and design a plan that articulated the causes and determinates of the existing crisis situation in health care cost, as well as, the available change process techniques from Systems Thinking. It was challenging for me as an individual to simplify the information for community-focused practical application that was not in the conventional Allopathic-medical paradigm.

Student team from the University of California at Berkeley, California

We are five graduate students from the University of California, Berkeley, pursuing dual MBA/MPH degrees as part of the Program in Health Services Management at the Haas School of Business and Berkeley School of Public Health. We entered the competition to put much of the theory we have learned in the classroom into practice. We aimed to solidify our knowledge about the health care system and to challenge ourselves to think creatively about the problems and proposals we have examined during the course of our studies. The competition has provided a framework for assessing our own inherent beliefs about our health care system and has opened the door to conversations with an array of stakeholders and opinion leaders. Below you will find brief sketches of each of our team members.

Becky worked in San Francisco as a consultant for three and a half years before attending UC Berkeley. She has subsequently completed internships in Product Marketing at Genentech, Inc. and in Business Development & Strategy at McKesson. Her long-term interests involve working in a company that is applying technology to science/health care. Becky has an undergraduate degree in Biological Anthropology from Harvard.

Jeff’s interests lie in health economics and policy. He has an undergraduate degree in economics from Union College in New York and four years of experience consulting in the pharmaceutical industry. During the summers of his MBA/MPH graduate program, Jeff interned at Blue Shield of California where he developed businesses cases as a member of its New Product Development department and at Englewood Hospital and Medical Center in New Jersey where he researched the feasibility of establishing several centers at the hospital as a member of the program development department.

Diane is interested in the interaction of business and government in addressing health policy issues. Prior to pursuing her MBA/MPH, Diane worked as a reporter for a pharmaceutical/biotech trade paper in Washington, D.C. and England. Diane gained an understanding of an integrated health care system while interning at Kaiser Permanente. This summer, Diane is working on corporate planning at ALZA Corporation, a member of the Johnson & Johnson family of companies. Diane holds a bachelor's degree in biology from Tufts University.

Louisa holds undergraduate degree from UC Berkeley in molecular biology, and spent 5 years in the biotech industry researching vaccines and diagnostic tools for HIV while at Chiron Corporation. She has interned in a variety of biotech and pharmaceutical industry areas, including Business Development, Venture Capital, New Products Development and Consulting. Louisa is particularly interested in issues pertaining to prescription drug reimbursement.

Karin is a research scientist turned communications professional, who spent four years in Washington, DC working on national healthcare issues. Prior to her time in DC, Karin worked as a pediatric cancer scientist at the University of Minnesota. She graduated from Grinnell College with a BA in Biology.

R. Vaughan from Ontario, Canada

I am a 53-year-old dentist from Arnprior, Ontario. I am married with three children ranging in age from 16 to 24. My wife was born and raised in the USA so I am very familiar with American policy and health care. I have a very busy, team based, dental practice focused on implants, crown and bridge and rehabilitation. In 1981 I first attended the Pankey Institute in Miami Florida and was introduced to the concept of informing and empowering the team and clients I worked with. This began a learning process about personal growth and supporting the growth of others, which continues today. As I witnessed (through my practice), the positive results of developing trust and relationships with our clients before trying to diagnose and fix them, my practice took on a whole new meaning.

I entered the contest because my frustrations with the Canadian Health Care system (which is essentially a disease care system) grew as I realized that the system made it impossible for friends and family to have the same type of general health care that our team was able to provide in dentistry. In 1995 I decided to get involved politically in Canadian health policy but quickly discovered that the system was concerned with public opinion polls and what will get the party elected and that change was virtually impossible.

The concept of an informed patient centered model for health care has evolved over the past ten years and for the past 3 years I have been working on publishing a book “Journey to Wellness”. When a friend noticed the O’Connor Challenge on the internet it was a perfect fit. (Project title named here was deleted. KO) (in my 50 page proposal) is actually an adaptation of what I am proposing for Canada and is based on taking the positive attributes of both the Canadian and American systems. Developing the O'Connor proposal involved researching the politics of the American system and gaining greater insight into the issues concerning American clients, providers and support groups.

The time and effort invested in the O’Connor Challenge has convinced me more than ever that the next generation health care system must support an informed and empowered patient and it is my personal mission to do all I can to encourage and support the transition in both our countries to this information age model for health care.

Elwood from Nebraska

I graduated from the University of Nebraska and spent 34 years as an accountant with the Dept. of Agriculture (ASCS, now the Farm Service Agency) in Kansas City, Missouri. I retired in 1994. I live on a farm and spend my time volunteering. I am Treasurer of my church and the local affiliate of the National Alliance for the Mentally Ill. I am married (for 46 years) and have three daughters and three grandsons.

I entered the contest because I thought I had acquired unique knowledge and experience which I could combine with my ideas for resolving the Nation's health care mess.

Thanks again for providing an opportunity to express my views in the contest.

Don MD from Ohio

I was born in 1948 in Plainfield New Jersey and graduated from Plainfield High School and went to Muhlenberg College, Allentown, PA. and Hahnemann Medical College in Philadelphia. I did a three-year Family Practice residency in Akron, Ohio. We started a three man Family Practice group from scratch an hour away with three doctors and six employees in a town of 30,000.

I am school physician and team physician for 25 years and I take medical students on office rotations from Northeast Ohio Universities College of Medicine occasionally. I am married for 33 years and have three children and three grandchildren and we have had the usual experiences with illnesses (particularly as our parents fail and enter their late 80's). I am a successful "Baby Boomer". Our group has expanded to five doctors and two Physicians Assistants and now we have 35 employees. Our town has shrunk to 23,000 as six of the largest employers have moved on to Canada or Mexico or just consolidated. The major chains have moved in i.e. Wal-Mart, Lowe's and Giant Eagle and the small retailers have dwindled. The hospital is building a new structure and required our land so we recently moved into a new 12,000 square foot space I designed and had built for our group.

35 years ago the old docs warned we that Medicare would ruin everything. There have been changes and the "system" of health care has changed. I actually interviewed with a solo doc who wore a long white coal with big pockets and each patient would stuff in their five dollars at the end of each visit, one nurse and one receptionist. Now almost all transactions are electronically billed and I have seven employees for each doctor. There is one who just does the groups referrals, one free drug forms and one for Workers Comp papers, not really generating any money. Our Health insurance increased 12 and 18 % and our malpractice 30 % and 30 % in 02 and 03 with no claims. Our reimbursement is now almost all tied to Medicare’s rates with insurers adding a few percent to get doctors to sign on.

More importantly daily I have seen good people fall through the cracks in the "system" and not receive their due care and coverage because the system is now too complex and full of exceptions. Like the uninsured motorist, workers comp covers it after the number is assigned and the appeal is won, the child of divorce whose father "should" pay, etc. The goal now is to make money. Even the old food pyramid that was generated by respected dieticians who worked for institutions that fed large numbers of people are tainted - they advocate the cheapest way to feed people (just like their employers wanted), maybe not the best. The goal should be “how to give everyone the best possible health care for the money available".

For years I have been trying in vain to get someone to read my ideas on how to improve the system but no one in power will read more then a paragraph let alone 20 pages. So when I read about this contest I told myself its time to enter or stop trying. Thanks for listening!

Douglas DDS and Ph.D. from Florida

I trained as a dentist at the University of London, United Kingdom, and spent 10 years full-time as a general dentist. I then worked for four years as an Artificial Intelligence researcher at the Open University and was awarded a Master's degree in computer science. For a further six years I was a Research Fellow in the Dept. of Community Dentistry and General Practice, University College Dental School, gaining a Ph.D. for work developing oral diagnostic systems. At Guy's Hospital, University of London I worked in the division of Maxillofacial Radiology and was awarded a Diploma in Dental Radiology from the Royal College of Radiologists. I am currently Professor of Radiology and Director of Oral Diagnostic Systems in the Dept. of Oral Surgery and Diagnostic Sciences at the University of Florida.

I am the author of 51 refereed papers (first author on 36) and was the Editor of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology, the journal of the International Association of Dentomaxillofacial Radiology. Since 1995 my research work has been in the development of Clinical Decision Support Systems for improving health care outcomes. During 1996/97 Dr. I was a member of Military Health Services System 2020, a US Dept. of Defense "think tank" for predicting the future directions of Military and Civilian Health Care in the US to the year 2020. In 1996 I founded the Alliance for Best Clinical Practices in Dentistry, Inc., (ABCPD) a not-for-profit educational organization. Members of the alliance included insurance companies, dental researchers and practicing dentists. The alliance’s goal was to facilitate the development of payment plans encouraging the use of evidence-based dentistry.

During 1997/98 he was the President of the Diagnostic Systems Group of the International Association for Dental Research. In 1998 the American Medical Informatics Association nominated me for a best paper award “Can Low Accuracy Disease Risk Predictor Models Improve Health Care Using Decision Support Systems?” I received a University of Florida Merit Award in October 1999. In 1999, I became President of Healthy Outcomes Technology Inc, which produces computer decision support modules for using clinical guidelines in health care. I also am an inventor on three University of Florida patents: 1) a caries recording method, 2) radiographic quality control, and 3) a data collection method using speech recognition.

I entered the competition since I believe that if you wish to improve healthcare you must offer a positive contribution. U.S. healthcare is an example of how market-orientated policies have failed and will continue to fail. Just as Communism ultimately crashed because of its innate inefficient design, so will high technology medicine within the next two to three years if current policies push medical inflation costs at the present rates. When this happens the political gridlock will break and the more rational policies suggested by myself and the other competitors will hopefully be adopted.

Elizabeth and Samuel from North Carolina

Elizabeth received her BS in biology, chemistry, and education from Cornell University in 1965. In 1981 she completed her MS in nutritional sciences from Cornell University. During her 22 years as a wholistic nutritionist, she worked in a wide variety of settings in the current health system, and learned about the profound relationship between what we eat, drink, and breathe and our overall health. For nine years she was the assistant director of the International and American Academy of Nutrition and Preventive Medicine, and edited their 10-page bi-monthly newsletter sent to 600 professional members worldwide. She presents programs to lay and professional audiences, and writes regularly for a variety of publications including the Asheville Citizen-Times. She has taught at the University of North Carolina in Asheville and Asheville-Buncombe Community College. Currently she is on the faculty of the American Academy of Nutrition. In 2002 she received her Ph.D. from Saybrook Graduate School in social systems with a focus on designing a new US health system. In 1994 her husband suffered a usually fatal cerebellar stroke. By using both traditional and complementary approaches to healing, he was able to walk using a walker, and lived a productive life until his death in 2001. Elizabeth is a mother, grandmother, singer, gardener, lover of nature, and pursues her own personal and spiritual growth.

Samuel received his B.A. from Fresno State University in history and social sciences, with a French literature minor. His M.S.Ed. and Ph.D. were from the University of Kansas in 1960 and 1961, respectively. He taught high school in the San Joaquin Valley from 1956 to 1959; Idaho State University from 1961 to 1965; and from 1965 to 1995, until his retirement, at Purdue University. His Ms.Ed. and Ph.D. dissertations concerned the political and social philosophy of John Dewey. Since retirement, he has taught weekly in the GED program at the Black Mountain Correctional Center for Women and occasionally at local colleges. He has written 11 book-length works, and about 200 papers, columns, chapters, articles, essays, editorials, radio-scripts, etc. His most recently published works are concerned with the philosophy of Benedict Spinoza, and he is seeking a publisher for a work on the philosophical and religious history of social justice. Samuel has been married to Lulla for 49 years, who has also been his professional collaborator, and has three grown children and one teenage grandson. He has had sabbaticals in Israel, New Zealand and Australia and taught summer school sessions at the University of Kansas and the University of Kentucky. He has had encounters with the health systems of four countries for a variety of health problems, experiences which have fed into the proposal and into the book which he and Elizabeth are currently writing.

Another Elizabeth from North Carolina

My name is Elizabeth and I am the second eldest child of four, born to working class parents in the early 1950's. My childhood was a happy one and full of wonderful memories as it was for so many growing up in the 50's. I graduated from high school and entered the Maryland Medical Secretarial school where I graduated following a two-year course. I have been associated with "all" aspects of healthcare since then, with the exception of nursing, and have never been disappointed with "my calling". I married a United States Marine in 1980 and migrated to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, where we have called "home" ever since. We have one son, who is 22 and away at college, but our nest is not empty as we have a cat named Cleo and a basset hound named Huckleberry. I presently am employed with a Radiology Center.

I entered this contest for one reason -- in hopes of making a difference in someone's life. With all the "wrinkles" in the healthcare system today, I felt some of my suggestions might help to "iron" out a few trouble spots. I have been associated with every cog in the healthcare wheel for the last 30 years, i.e. medical transcription, accounts receivables, billing, insurance and coding and know what it takes to promote and maintain a lucrative practice. I feel honored that my suggestions were even considered and want to thank you for allowing me to participate and stand upon that soapbox for just a few moments. I will continue to work in healthcare until retirement (which is still a little ways off) because it has always been a pleasure knowing that I have "helped" someone in some way.

Thank you again.

James from Minnesota

I have worked as a city manager, university middle manager, redeveloper/ landlord and currently for a third-party administrator of self-funded health plans. I have been interested in reform for over ten years, when I made a proposal to my employer, Aetna. I've worked on reform in the past two years by disseminating my refined proposal of informed, market-based reform to various leaders. I have three degrees, including two very appropriate ones -- a B.A. in economics and a M.Ed. in organizational development, both from the University of Minnesota. I believe that true, viable reform is a function of a deeper, more insightful consciousness and individuality [not individualism] in common unity or community. People are often polarized and then politicized, lacking the problem-solving skills, insight and communications to grow as a person, as well as in community.

I entered the contest as health care is my occupation but health care reform is my vocation -- it is a pressing need and a model for non-polarized, non-politicized community development. People need to mature into a greater individual and corporate effectiveness, as well as satisfaction. It is difficult, challenging and sometimes painful, but necessary, process of human growth.

William from California

I was born in Chicago in 1954. Graduated from Luther South HS in 1972. Purchased a Pizza restaurant in Oct. 1972. Moved to Seattle (Bellevue) in 1976 and worked in circulation for various newspapers there, including the Seattle Times. Moved to San Diego in 1989 and now currently work as an Optician. Married to a wonderful wife with 3 children.

The reason that I entered this contest was not for the money but to possibly make health care more affordable for everyone. I had already started working on this about a year ago and was planning on sending my ideas to congressman Issa. I work as an optician and see many seniors on Medicare and HMO's and the ones on HMO's complain all the time about the high cost and poor service. Not just in my field but with all healthcare and there just seemed like there should be a better way... It became personal to me when my mother need specialized nursing care and could not afford it and Medi-Cal rejected her because her income was too much!! Let's make some changes!

Michael from Tennessee

Originally from Texas. Well traveled, having spent a number of years in Tennessee. Married twenty-three years, with a daughter and Marine son. Graduated from the University of Tennessee with a Masters in Business Administration. Employed for the last seventeen years in public service.

Interests include: Public Policy, Politics, Travel, and Writing.

The contest is an opportunity to present some of my ideas on public policy, specifically as they relate to health care, to people with expertise in the field.

The Loma Linda University, School of Public Health Healthcare Reform Team

Why we entered the contest? A few doctoral students at Loma Linda University School of Public Health believed that this was a wonderful opportunity to get the great minds of healthcare at the same table to talk about how we can find solutions to our healthcare challenges. It would give adversaries in healthcare an opportunity to collaborate on solutions, helping people see the perspectives of all the stakeholders in healthcare. It also would give people working in healthcare the opportunity to get in the proactive mode of solutions rather than the reactive mode of crisis.

About our team:

Eric MHA, CHE, with a Bachelors degree in Physiology from the University of California at Berkeley, and he continued on to complete a Masters degree in Health Care Administration at Washington University in St. Louis. He is currently working towards a Masters degree in Finance. Eric's twenty-three year career in health care is remarkable for its breadth and depth, with notable achievements as a senior executive in hospitals, medical groups and managed care. He is recognized as the founder of Mills-Peninsula Medical Group, one of the few NCQA accredited Independent Practice Associations. Eric's focal points have been to bring a demonstrable commitment to community health care access in the organizations he has served, to achieve market success and stability within volatile markets, and to develop self-directed healthcare teams.

S. Eric, Ph.D., MBA, an internationally known lecturer and consultant who has traveled to 118 countries, presently serves as the MHA Program Director at Loma Linda University. He has written or been interviewed on several occasions for articles that have appeared in a variety of publications such as Forbes, Your Money, Journal of Cost and Quality, Medical Tribune, USA Today, Los Angeles Times, and California Medicine. He was also selected to serve on a nationally recognized task force mentioned in Time, Newsweek and US News and World Report that was established to improve the health care delivery process. Eric has been recognized on several occasions as he received the 1995 Business and Health Administration Top Research Award, the 1998 Reader's Digest Publishing Award and in 1998 received the P. William Dysinger Teaching Award. He served as advisor to the student team.

Dora, MPH,CHES, is currently a healthcare consultant working with hospitals and community based organizations. She has implemented innovative alternatives to traditional healthcare using a collaborative and community-based approach. Dora has worked with hospitals, health maintenance organizations, and managed care companies. She is presently a doctoral student in public health at Loma Linda University. Her passion and dedication are maternal child health and reforming the current system of healthcare in the United States.

Mary, BSN, RN, is currently a quality management consultant for the state of California. Mary has over 32 years experience in healthcare with 14 years in managed care and 14 years of acute care nursing experience. Prior to being a consultant Mary was the Director of Quality Management and Compliance, developed/implemented quality and utilization processes in a mixed model health care delivery system for 22 IPAs /650,000 managed care lives / >1200 PCPs and SCPs, integrating health delivery expectations and requirements. Mary developed all Policy and Procedures for HIPAA, Quality, Risk, Utilization, Credentialing, Health Ed/Preventive Care, and Disease Management utilizing standards set by NCQA, HMO, CMS, DMHC, including maintenance of compliance with standards for Knox-Keene license.

Brad, MD, MPH, is the Medical Director of Inland Empire Health Plan (IEHP), a non-profit HMO for Medi-Cal and Health Families beneficiaries. His responsibilities are the oversight of all medical aspects at IEHP. Under his leadership, IEHP was awarded a three year Commendable Accreditation by NCQA (2002), the first Medi-Cal only plan in California to achieve this distinction. In 2002, IEHP was awarded NCQA Full Disease Management Accreditation, the first full service health plan in the United States to achieve this status. Prior to IEHP, he also served as the Director of Public Health for both Riverside County and San Mateo County, California.

Daniel, MD, a graduate from Loma Linda University School of Medicine in 1983, He completed his neurology residency and a Behavioral Neurology Fellowship at the University of Rochester. He served as a professor of Neurology at the University of Rochester from 1990-1995. He also served as an Assistant Residency Program Director and ran an offsite Neurology practice in addition to working with the Multiple Sclerosis Section. In 1996, he returned to Loma Linda University as Chair of the Department of Neurology and is currently Vice-President of Medical Education at Loma Linda University Medical Center and Associate Dean for Graduate Medical Education in the School of Medicine.

Nancy, BSN, RN, is currently a Nursing Director at a 329-bed full-service hospital with nearly 2,000 employees and a medical staff of over 500 physicians. Nancy has developed innovative programs for nursing care. She has been a leader in finding long-term solutions to the nursing shortage within her hospital that promote quality and nurse satisfaction.

Jeff, MD has practiced medicine as a primary care physician and Endocrinologist for 18 years. He is board certified in Internal Medicine and Endocrinology and is a Fellow of the American College of Physicians. Dr. Mason has served as a medical director for two IPAs and is currently a health plan medical director. His primary interests are in the management of chronic illness in a managed care environment, the economics of health care delivery, and in integrating physicians into a comprehensive health care delivery system.

Monica, MPH, RN, CHES, CLE, has worked in healthcare settings on three continents and is presently enrolled as a doctoral student in Health Promotion and Education in the School of Public Health at Loma Linda University.

Rhodes, MD, presently serves as Loma Linda University Healthcare Executive Director for Medical Affairs, encompassing roles in managed care credentialing, quality management and utilization management. He is Special Assistant to the Dean, Loma Linda University School of Medicine. Chairs the Loma Linda University Medical Center’s utilization management committee and institutional review board and maintains an active primary care internal medicine practice. He has five years experience as a hospitalist and in that role was recognized as the Internal Medicine Teacher of the year. He has serviced on multiple HMO advisory committees, as well as, the local and state boards of the American Lung Association.

John, is an insurance broker in Orange County, California.

Bruce, MD, MPH is a family physician with training in public health (international health) and preventive medicine. He currently serves as Medical Officer for Maternal and Adolescent Health with the San Bernardino County, California, Department of Public Health. He has eight years’ experience working with diverse health systems in Costa Rica, Guatemala and Nicaragua as well as the United States, and has served in ‘policy shaping’ or ‘advisory roles’ with MACH Action (the California state association of maternal child health professionals), committees of the California Conference of Local Health Officers, and the California State Breastfeeding Advisory Committee.

Jim from Florida

I think that it is great to have some info on the people that are concerned about the national crisis that we have at the present time concerning healthcare.

My wife and I own a printing and publishing (we publish a magazine on ultralight aircraft - UltraFlight Magazine) business. I have been self-employed most of my life (I am 55 years old). We raised 4 adopted children and have 3 grandchildren.

I entered this contest because of the great need for affordable healthcare for everyone. Two years ago our premiums were $400+ per month for the two of us, last year they were $660+ per month, this year it has gone up to $1,028.00 per month. At the present rate of increases we won't be able to afford healthcare within two years. My wife was also involved in a serious auto accident in September 2002, the total bills so far are in the $350,000 range and could possibly go up if she requires additional surgery. This accident has made it impossible for us to shop for more affordable health insurance.

Thanks for giving me the opportunity to express my thoughts and ideas on a health care plan. I hope that all the work that all of the contestants have done will make a difference and changes can be made in our obsolete system.

Jim and Fran from Maryland

Our corporate team involved in the development of the Proposal to the O’Connor Challenge includes Jim and Fran. We have worked together on healthcare issues since before the NIST ATP on Healthcare (1996-1999). For that ATP we were part of the team which was administered by the Koop Foundation. In the healthcare domain we have been active in healthcare informatics, patient empowerment, quality metrics, and telemedicine. In the system engineering domain we have been active in enterprise architecture development, system concepts, requirements analysis, modern management methods, process improvements, modern system engineering concepts, development and use of standards, supply chain analysis, processes modeling, and advanced systems architecture. In the technology domain we have been active in advanced computing and communications, improved productivity, enhanced cognition, advanced simulation and visualization methods, data mining, dynamic ambiguity resolution, and organizational change management techniques. We have eagerly attempted to capture good ideas from all those we encounter, often without appropriate attribution.

We think that the spirit of the O’Connor Challenge is right on the mark. Nothing short of massive overhaul will solve the critical problems of developing and maintaining a healthcare system. All of our skills and talents have been taxed to the max in developing our system and concept, and we look forward to sharing our ideas with others who have stretched their thinking to the max. Thanks for this wonderful opportunity.

Terry from Oregon

Terry MPH, is a research associate at the Evidence-based Practice Center at Oregon Health & Science University, working on systematic drug reviews for state formularies. He is also a doctoral student in Urban Studies at Portland State University, preparing a dissertation on the feasibility of universal health care. He received his bachelor’s degree in Sociology from PSU in 1978. After a career as a writer, editor and publisher, focusing largely on art and artists, a position with Excerpta Medica at Elsevier Science in Amsterdam introduced him to the field of medicine. The recent return to academic work and a focus on healthcare policy brought him to a coveted position in 2002-03 as research associate with the former dean of the OHSU School of Medicine.

The contest happens to correspond to my dissertation topic, so I used it as a first deadline for a draft of my proposed model. It worked really well, allowing me to dump everything out of my head and face a number of difficult issues in an easy narrative format that prepares for more systematic treatment.

Thomas from Florida

For the past 7 years I have been an instructor in the Health Information Management (HIM) program at the University of Central Florida, where I am currently employed as the Director for the Health Services Administration (HSA) and the HIM Undergraduate Programs. I hold baccalaureate degrees in Medical Record Administration and English Education, a Masters degree in Health Services Administration, certification as a Registered Health Information Administrator (RHIA), and licensure as a Health Care Risk Manager (LHRM). My past work experience in health care settings has included positions in hospital administration and risk management, data quality management, and health information management and consulting. I have published and enjoy writing articles on controversial healthcare issues and am currently on contract with Lippincott Williams, and Wilkins publishers to write a book on the topic of ICD-9-CM coding.

I entered the O’Connor Contest - “Build An American Health System” because I believe all good changes start with a person willing to take the first step or “leap of faith” and not standing by waiting for someone else to do something. Therefore, I hope to take a part in helping to find a solution to the terrible problem of the growing number of health care’s uninsured, especially the working poor, who have been outcast from receiving adequate health care within the United States. For the most part, unless there is a “9/11,” change in U.S. policy happens incrementally. Keeping that in mind, the purpose of my proposal is to assert an alternative to the current U.S. health care insurance system. It takes advantage of structures already in place to promote a “win-win” American health system premised on a workable tiered universal health care system. As an emanation of a diverse society, the proposed system does not advocate a one-payer “one size fits all” universal system that is not amenable to the U.S. health care, social, or political environment. However, it is workable, practical, affordable, and guarantees health care coverage for every U.S. citizen.

Kevin from Illinois

I grew up in the Chicago, IL area. I received a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Since graduating, I lived two years in Seattle, WA and 21 years in Chicago. During that time, I was trained and fulfilled the exam requirements to become a Fellow of the Society of Actuaries as a health actuary. I am a Member of the American Academy of Actuaries. For 23 years I have worked as an actuary for three insurance companies (two were affiliated) and two consulting firms. For the last 8 years, I have also worked part-time for three bookstores (two were affiliated).

I learned about the contest through an actuarial newsletter. I am participating, because I have had lengthy discussions with friends and family about health care in the United States. This contest gives me the opportunity to go beyond talk and to develop my ideas into a national health care system. I want to be part of the process as the United States moves toward national health care.

Dag from Washington state

Born in Dallas, raised in Arlington and married in England, Dag is a graduate of Tulane University, Texas Tech School of Medicine, the Family Practice residency of the University of Connecticut and the proud father of two hockey playing sons. He has worked full time as a family physician in urgent care, solo private practice and multispecialty group practice, as well as part time in a prison, emergency rooms and public and private university student health clinics. Now employed full time for a decade by a not for profit primary care group, he grooms the two family cats to relieve his high blood pressure.

I have worked cleaning toilets, delivering furniture, washing dishes, hauling trash, testing sewer repairs, telemarketing and mouse raising. Practicing medicine was an escape. After medical school, graduate and postgraduate training and practice in Texas, Connecticut and the United Kingdom, with 5 years of solo practice and 5 years of salaried practice, things in medicine were so bad I helped organize, lead and negotiate for a doctors union. All of my education, training, experience and organizational skills are being wasted---not just by problems with medical practice alone, but worse, by the system that consumes our resources and efforts more for the wealth of the industry than the health of the patient. When the opportunity to change the system and enter the national debate arose, it was vital to seize upon, to try and make a difference.

Louise MD from Texas

I am a board certified ophthalmologist who has been in private practice in Houston for almost 25 years. I work in an industrial and Hispanic area near the port of Houston. During my years of practicing medicine, I have experienced the gamut of health care plans and payment types.

I entered the contest because I was attracted to a forum where I could express my ideas. Health care is an intensely emotional and complex topic that is very difficult to discuss with most people, regardless of their background. I have found that any attempt to sustain a reasoned and deliberate consideration of the multiple issues is met with interruptions, a change of the subject, or expressions of general hopelessness. I am gratified to have access to a panel of objective reviewers who may be open to many different points of view.

Stuart from Washington state

I am a Board-certified family physician certified by the American Board of Family Practice. I am an American, but I did some of my training in Canada, which gives me a unique perspective on the two disparate health care systems. Medical school was at the U. of Illinois College of Medicine in Peoria. Residency for Canada's 2-year Family Medicine program was at the U. of British Columbia in Vancouver, B.C. A third year of residency training for American Board eligibility in the U.S. was done in Lewiston, Maine at the Central Maine Medical Center.

I ran for Congress in my district [Congressional District 2, Washington State] as a Libertarian Party candidate in 2000. My central theme was health care reform. This experience helped shape the concepts presented in my contest submission.

I entered the contest because third party [insurance, government] mediation and intrusion into the health care arena have perverted market forces. I have felt this first hand in 22 years of medical practice, as have my patients. One giant third party, without competition - as in Canada, was not an acceptable solution for me. However, very few alternative plans were being espoused. I felt the need to present an alternative solution or step aside and stop complaining.

Herbert from Florida

I just retired from a career in healthcare finance which began in 1967, shortly after Medicare was "invented." I was the chief financial officer of seven hospitals/health systems and lived through four hospital mergers and one de-merger. I was a volunteer Board member for five years for a Healthy Start Coalition, serving one year as chair.

I entered the contest because I have observed the growing amount of resources being wasted on the complexities of the system. Hundreds of thousands of people are employed by hospitals, doctors and insurance companies just processing paper and deciding whether patients should get care or not. My entry proposes to provide efficiencies which will transfer that money to patient care.

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Copyright
Kathleen O’Connor
August 8, 2003

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