Though the weather was rainy, inside the Grand Hyatt, day one of the NHPC was a great day full of rich discussions and inspiring plenaries.
A common theme throughout the day was that although challenges exist in the current health policy landscape, opportunities are evident as well. Innovations at the local and state level, multi-stakeholder collaborations, integrated care systems, and public-private partnerships are just some of the examples of productive cooperation in our current, rapidly changing landscape.
Shannon Brownlee energized attendees during the lunch plenary with her presentation, Radical Change or Bust: The Coming Transformation in Healthcare and Health, where she spoke on the scope and consequences of over spending on healthcare. Brownlee emphasized that the United States is over investing in healthcare while under investing in the social determinants of health. An overgrown healthcare industry needs more than reform, she noted, it needs a radical, transformative change.
Stressing the importance of health services research in supporting this change, Brownlee called for rigorous evidence and disruptive innovation in delivery systems science. She emphasized three steps in beginning this radical transformation: keep patients outside of the hospital, redeploy resources from hospitals into the community, and begin building infrastructure.
Brownlee concluded with a call to action: health services researchers need to disseminate their findings and assert the changes that are needed in policy and practice.
“The public doesn't truly understand how broken our healthcare system is. I hope you speak out about the changes we need.”
Stay tuned for session summaries and updates on the blog and keep the conversation going on Twitter using hashtag #nhpc14.