Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the House and architect of the Republican Revolution in the 1990s, has turned his attention to a revolution of another sort—health care.
Gingrich, 65, founded the Center for Health Transformation—a high-impact collaboration of private- and public-sector leaders committed to creating a 21st century intelligent health system that saves lives and money for all Americans—in order to push for a complete overhaul of the U.S. health care system, which he says is seriously broken.
The co-author of the Contract With America spoke in Baton Rouge on Oct. 22 as part of Pennington Biomedical Research Center’s 20th anniversary events and as part of a forum with Gov. Bobby Jindal entitled “The Future of Health and Health Care in Louisiana.”
Question: One of the things you’re pushing for is a federal mandate that every doctor, hospital and pharmacy switch from paper to electronic patient health records and prescriptions by 2012. Don’t conservatives hate federal mandates, and won’t this be unpopular with members of your own party?
It might be, but on the other hand everybody agrees airplanes ought to be safe before we’re allowed to use them. Everybody agrees commercial airline pilots have to meet minimum standards. Everybody expects if there’s a crash NTSB will investigate it and try to find the cause.
I think you can make the case that it should be just as important in the doctor’s office or the pharmacy or the hospital as it is in the airline industry. You cannot have a modern, safe health system based on paper. We [the Center for Health Transformation] wrote a book with David Merritt, Paper kills. We used that title deliberately. We think paper kills.
Q: How expensive will it be to make everyone electronic by 2012?
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I think it will be moderately expensive, but I think we’ll actually save money in the long run if you just start with the amount of money saved by fraud avoidance, not having to duplicate tests, etc. The Rand Corporation estimated we could save $80 billion a year—not counting fraud. Our estimate is we could save $60 billion a year in fraud avoidance. It will almost certainly pay for the system by a 3- or 4-to-1 multiple.
Q: How much privatization are we talking about?
I’m talking about giving people the option. I wouldn’t privatize Medicaid, but I think people ought to have a right to choose as they do right now with Medicaid Advantage. If you want to spend more on your health care, then you ought to be allowed. We give poor people food stamps so they can go to the grocery store. We don’t create a separate state-run grocery store for the poor.
Q: You talk about market competition being the key to fixing health care. Are you talking about more transparency in pricing and performance of health care providers, or having more providers offering the same services?
I’m talking about both. You find that the best places in the country are actually less expensive, and the best places actually do more volume because they practice in what they specialize in. If it’s been a year since your doctor has done the procedure you need, find another doctor. You have the same kind of effect on hospitals and medical practices that you have in the best application of the Deming quality model—people who are transparent and learn from their mistakes.
Q: Put another way, you’ve said market dynamics will save health care, not government control. Do you still think that way, given the current meltdown of the financial system?
Financial markets right now are in a temporary pattern that’s happened repetitively over the last 500 years of free-market models. We’re going to go through a correction. But if you look at the socialist, government-run economics and market-driven economics of the world, there’s no question market-driven economies do dramatically better.
Q: Which presidential candidate’s health care plan, John McCain’s or Barack Obama’s, most closely resembles what you’re talking about?
I think there are aspects of McCain’s plan that move in the right direction, and there are aspects of the Obama plan that move in the right direction. But none has the kind of focus I developed and in finding best practices.
Q: You talk about investment in science and technology as being one of the pillars of health care transformation. The United States over the last several years has ceased to make such an investment a priority. Is that likely to change?
I hope it will. I’m going to do everything I can to reach out to every scientific organization in the country. Because it’s a matter of national security and economic growth and energy and the environment to dramatically expand our investment in science. It’s a remarkable commentary on the failure of the current political system that we can find $1.5 trillion this year for bailouts but can’t find the money to invest in science. It’s a major, major mistake.
Eight strategic strengths
The Center for Health Transformation says its unique impact is a function of eight strategic strengths:
1. Transformational leadership. The center focuses on building and training a large network of leaders to create a critical mass of activity and impact to make transformation inevitable.
2. A vision of a better future. The center has developed a vision and vision principles based on moral and economic issues that resonate with leaders.
3. A strategic plan. The center has defined high-leverage, big-impact projects to drive transformation.
4. Proven solutions. The center constantly identifies, helps create and shares proven transformational policies and solutions.
5. A network of allies. The center’s network includes top leaders in the federal government, 36 states in its state project, key corporations, top hospitals, disease advocacy groups, professional and industry associations and leading research institutions.
6. A message, and the ability to get it out. The center has speakers to deliver its message, top pollsters to help define the right language and media visibility to drive the demand for transformation.
7. Coalition-building capabilities. The center builds coalitions to transform entire areas, including the geographic level to create community-based models.
8. Constant learning combined with power, speed and strategic skill and ability. The center applies those capabilities to transform health care.
SOURCE: Center for Health Transformation
Comments
Posted by lspilberger on November 6, 2008 at 12:50 p.m. (Suggest removal)
I think the points brought up by Mr Gingrich deserve to be talked about on the basis of their merit. Big governement has proven time and time again that it cannot manage things in a cost effective manner. To give more power to the federal government whether it is health care or any other thing is NOT the way to go. People need to realize that big government cannot take care of everyone and every need. People have to do something for themselves. I am a middle aged person who is employed full time and have health and prescriptions benefits. My premiums on the health insurance alone are over 4K per year. That does not include dental or vision. That also does not include co-pays for doctors, clinics, and prescriptions drugs. I resent the philosophy that some people want what I have worked for ... for NOTHING. We need to build awareness, educate people to the process, train them to work in a viable work environment and as part of that environment the option to pay part of the cost of insurance. Something for nothing is rarely appreciated, instead creates the climate for asking for MORE of something for nothing.
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