Eight U.S health care leaders will meet with their peers in New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore this month to learn about innovative work being done in these countries to advance health care delivery, policy, and equity, as part of a collaboration between the Commonwealth Fund and AcademyHealth. Participants of #HealthTour23 will spend 11 days exploring the health systems of these countries and identifying potential opportunities to translate lessons learned from the trip to inform domestic policy and practice.
This study tour will provide participants with an opportunity to step away from their usual environments in an immersive opportunity to further understand top issues and trends affecting health care delivery and health policy in other countries. The experience will also enable participants to foster cross-national relationships that lay the foundation for ongoing and future knowledge and cultural exchange around health care research, delivery, and policy.
The itinerary maximizes opportunities for learning and exchange specifically around three intersecting topics: digital health, health equity, and national health policy reforms. These topics also encompass other areas of common interest—primary care innovation, access to care for rural and indigenous populations, maternal and child health, mental health, and managing the cost of pharmaceuticals and health care services.
Over the course of the 11-day tour, participants will have ample opportunities to connect with leading experts in these countries and experience their innovative approaches first-hand. In addition to meeting with health care delivery and policy experts, the itinerary includes several opportunities for participants to be immersed in the various cultures in these countries, including the Māori population in New Zealand and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in rural Australia.
As visitors, participants will be well positioned to critically compare what they observe to their understanding of the U.S. health care system. Learning through the lived experiences of the people they meet, in the places where policy and practice solutions are being implemented, will equip tour participants to draw connections and consider how innovations from New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore might be adapted and applied in various U.S. settings.
Eight health care leaders with a wide range of expertise will be joining the tour along with select AcademyHealth and Commonwealth Fund staff:
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Aaron Carroll, Indiana University School of Medicine
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Adimika Meadows Arthur, HealthTech for Medicaid
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Andrew Carlo, Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute
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Dave A. Chokshi, NYU Grossman School of Medicine
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Karen Feinstein, Jewish Healthcare Foundation
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Narda Ipakchi, The SCAN Foundation
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Keisuke Nakagawa, UC Davis Health
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Prof Bola Owolabi, NHS England
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Danielle DeCosta, AcademyHealth
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Molly Fitzgerald, Commonwealth Fund
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Michael Gluck, AcademyHealth
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Reggie Williams, Commonwealth Fund
The study tour is supported by funding from the international program of the Commonwealth Fund, which has leveraged its experience facilitating international knowledge exchange programs, including its Harkness Fellowship. AcademyHealth, while primarily focused on its domestic mission, engages in global health activities like these to help connect health care and policy leaders in the U.S. and abroad to further knowledge exchange through educational and professional experiences. Jon Baines Tours, experts in designing tailored academic travel experiences for medical and research professionals, helped develop the itinerary and managed travel logistics.
Be sure to learn more along with our study tour participants by following the hashtag #HealthTour23 for updates on both Twitter and LinkedIn. Follow us and the Commonwealth Fund on LinkedIn and Twitter at @AcademyHealth and @commonwealthfnd and read AcademyHealth staff observations from their stops in New Zealand, Australia, and Singapore.