Executive Summary

Americans don't need more healthcare - they need improved healthcare! Our healthcare delivery roadmap addresses all those issues and more by improving the already existing system.

Our proposal requires re-shaping the healthcare environment, as we know it today. There will be role-defining changes, front-line delivery system changes, and patient and family role and responsibility changes as consumers must become more aware, participatory and accountable. We believe our philosophy will reduce injury, illness, and disability in our nation as all Americans, both providers and consumers, must become more accountable for their healthcare decisions. By taking advantage of new technology changes as well as research and development changes along with standardizing reimbursement and addressing the indigent and uninsured, our model will help to introduce America to healthier lifestyles by encouraging accountability and providing the necessary education needed for learned decision-making.

As with any change, time and patience will be necessary in order to set in place the alterations we propose. However, we expect commitment from all travelers who journey with us. There must be confidence and promise from government officials, the healthcare providers (including the lobbyists who represent each of the differing views and opinions from those providers), the consumers, the employers and the regulatory entities who oversee the rules and regulations. Change will require a "give and take" approach but at the end of this journey, all travelers will find a healthcare oasis awaiting them. This oasis will be fair, equitable, cost-effective and provide all consumers with options, providers with fair reimbursement, and government regulators the assistance they have needed for oversight. Employers will be able to provide all their employees healthcare at an affordable rate and the consumer will take on the responsibility and accountability for their own healthcare needs. Providers will be rewarded for quality, costeffective, appropriate care and those who cannot provide that care will be penalized.

The healthcare delivery system, as we know it, has become a challenge -for the providers, the consumers, the government entities that oversee it and the government officials who develop the policies and procedures which regulate it. Nationally, there is an outcry to "do something" about the rising cost of healthcare for employers and consumers as well as the diminished reimbursements for providers. But wait, what are the real issues regarding the state of the healthcare delivery system today?

We believe the healthcare delivery system could be fundamentally sound. Because of accountability and educational issues, the healthcare delivery system could become a quality system. Americans should be able to expect to receive appropriate care that meets their needs. That care should be based upon proven scientific knowledge as well as outcome analysis overseen by individuals who hold the consumer, as well as the healthcare practitioners and providers, accountable for utilizing the system appropriately and within the standards of care developed by outcome analysis. All parties within the healthcare system "say" they provide quality care, but do they? Has the oversight for quality outcome analysis become nothing more than a paper-pushing exercise? Who oversees the overseer?

We believe we can stop the madness and provide a roadmap that will result in organizational support for our proposed changes, which are rooted in accountability (both fiscal as well as clinical) and education. Much has recently been written about patient-centered care, patient safety, timely and efficient care as well as appropriate, effective care that is equitable for all.

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