Momentum toward national health care reform is accelerating. This time, the stakes are higher than ever before.

Yet our country’s ability to solve its health care crisis depends to no small extent on whether our political and private sector leaders can articulate a shared vision of the kind of health care system that will meet the needs of the 21st century Americans.

There are indications that the elements of a shared vision are finally emerging. During the course of our health care reform work in Maine, Vermont, West Virginia and other states, America’s Agenda has observed mounting evidence that a consensus is finally emerging among leaders in diverse sectors about key elements of a modernized health care system. Our observations are reinforced by evidence from other sources that realignment is underway among former health reform adversaries in the direction of a shared vision for a 21st century American health care system.

The emergence of such a consensus would be of historic significance. It would utterly transform prospects for effective healthcare reform that have been deadlocked over more than a half century.

If that kind of consensus on reform of America’s health system is truly emerging, as indicators suggest, the American people and our elected leaders need to know about it.

That’s why America’s Agenda is sponsoring the Summit Conversations on American Health Care for the 21st Century.

Speakers and panel members include:

• Dr. Donna Shalala, Pres. of U. of Miami and Former Secy of HHS
• Hon. Dick Gebhardt (above left)
• James Hagedorn, Chairman & CEO, Miracle-Gro (formerly Scotts Miracle-Gro (below left, w/o tie)
• Rebecca M. Patton, MSN, RN, CNOR, President, American Nurses Assn.
  
• Dr. C. Martin Harris, MD, MBA, Chair, ITTech, Cleveland Clinic (at right with blue tie)
• Dr. Pedro Greer, Jr., MD, Asst. Dean, College of Medicine, Fla. Intl. University (lower right) 

The Topics

Comprehensive reform of our nation’s healthcare system has eluded Capitol Hill and Presidents since Teddy Roosevelt.  Americans are now spending more on healthcare than any other nation in the world, but our country ranks last among 19 industrialized nations in preventable deaths.

Our system failing to improve health outcomes for millions of Americans, undermining our competitiveness in the international marketplace, straining state government budgets, and undercutting wage growth for American workers. Premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance in the United States have been rising four times faster on average than workers’ earnings since 2000, and health insurance costs are on track to overtake profits in this decade.

Initiatives in diverse sectors of the economy have demonstrated the potential for innovations in health care delivery to reduce cost growth, improve quality, and expand access to care—but they also demonstrate state, local, and private entities’ limits in resolving health care cost and quality issues outside the context of federal reform.

There is mounting evidence that a new consensus is emerging across diverse sectors of American society about key elements of a modernized health care system that can meet the needs of 21st century Americans. 

 

 

These elements include:

• investments in the prevention and management of chronic disease
• emphasis on primary care
• patient-centered coordination of care
• design of effective provider and patient incentives
• building of a nationwide health information technology infrastructure, and 
• access of all Americans to affordable, quality care.
  

The Summit Conversations on American Health Care for the 21st Century brings together America’s leaders from business, labor, government, health care, and other sectors to explore the extent and limits of their consensus on these issues.

Click here for a link to the webcast connection.