The present US health system is "powered by baby boom physicians". As these physicians gear down or retire outright, they are being replaced by younger physicians with different values, practice goals and communications styles. How will this generational transition affect medical practice, as well as hospital/physician relations? How will policymakers cope with the impending scarcity of practicing physicians as the baby boom itself enrolls in Medicare?
President Obama won the Presidency in part on a pledge to reform healthcare and provide coverage to the more than 45 million uninsured people in the United States. How will the present economic crisis constrain him from fulfilling this pledge? Who has he chosen to lead his health reform efforts, and how will they shape his policy choices? What are the new Administration's options in closing the coverage gap, as well as in containing and managing health spending?
As the US struggles to recover from the recession which began in 2008, it is clear that the health system has been profoundly affected. Not only have healthcare finances been affected by the debt crisis; healthcare demand itself has weakened as hard pressed consumers postpone using health services. How will the unfolding economic crisis affect hospitals, physicians, health plans and healthcare technology firms? What strategic adaptations are required to weather this crisis, and anticipate the future shape of the health system?
A twenty-year "Look Forward" at the impact of the Baby Boom generation on the health system and society. Will they trigger a boom in the demand for health services, and in doing so, wreck our safety net programs- Medicare and Social Security? What will they need and how will we market to them? What are the plans of baby boomers, and will the U.S. economy survive their retirement?
A brief history of consumer-centric health care and its major driving forces. How will consumers leverage their access to knowledge about their own illness and about the capabilities of the health system to assume greater control over their and their family's health?
A new business model is emerging in American health insurance. How does it work? How will consumer directed health insurance plans interact with Baby Boomers and their children to change the health system? Will it damage our health insurance system? What factors limit its growth? How will consumer directed health plans evolve as more Americans enroll?
How will modern information technology alter the role of the major actors in healthcare: consumers, health plans, hospitals, physicians and pharmaceutical firms? How will modern IT transform health services, and improve quality, productivity and health worker morale at the same time? Why has IT adoption been so slow and painful in healthcare?
At $2.3 trillion, the U.S. Health system is the size of a large industrial nation. Is the American public getting its money's worth? This lecture will examine why health costs have grown, the technological and demographic factors driving that growth, and argue that fundamental improvements in quality of life, particularly for old Americans, have resulted.
