Challenging Healthcare’s Status Quo: Contrarian or Common Sense?
Three forward-looking physicians, Brittany Busse, MD, Anoop Kumar, MD, MM, and Arnold Lee, MD possible paths to a healthier, more effective healthcare system in the U.S.
Are their ideas contrarian, or are they just common sense? Among the key themes discussed:
Profit vs. Patient-Centricity. With fee-for-service payment models driving 18% of GDP, financial incentives often overshadow efforts to prioritize patients. Our guest physician speakers discussed how this plays out in practice: health systems, payors and other commercial businesses prioritizing revenue while patient advocates push for changes that could benefit patients and providers alike.
Systemic Shifts vs. Singular Bright Spots. Will healthcare’s future hinge on sweeping systemic reform or the rise of “bright spots” led by individual innovators? Arnold Lee, MD, argued for a structural overhaul, pointing to deep-rooted inefficiencies of the healthcare system that need uprooting. Anoop Kumar, MD, MM, took a different stance, championing the power of single source solutions to light the way forward. Meanwhile, Brittany Busse, MD’s company, Vitel Health, offers a real-world example of success, showing how physicians can be in the driver’s seat to practice medicine and deliver patient-centered care.
The rapid adoption of telehealth during COVID-19 provides a compelling example of the types of changes that are possible in healthcare. Telehealth first emerged in the 1950s. But it took a public health crises in 2020 to drive system-wide alignment, along with policy and incentive changes, that dramatically accelerated telehealth’s adoption. Now, it serves as a compelling example of the system’s capacity for rapid, impactful progress.
Which contrarian approaches to practicing medicine might the healthcare system ‘adopt overnight’ next?
