U.S. health care must change to meet new realities, Leavitt says

LOVELAND – Health-care organizations and providers will have to change in the next five to 10 years to meet a changing world that is more dispassionate about how health care is delivered, Mike Leavitt, former Secretary of Health and Human Services, told an audience of about 50 health care providers and others today.

Leavitt, who served under President George W. Bush as Secretary of Health and Human Services and administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, said the United States is moving from an era of “compassion” when it comes to setting health policy to an era of “dispassion,” as it assesses its place in a global setting in which rising U.S. debt will limit what the government can spend on health care.

“In the last 60 years, almost every health decision has been based on human values,” Leavitt said. “We want to take care of people so they can live happy, well lives.”

And while he hopes those values will always be a part of American policy, Leavitt said he believes that era may be about to end because the price of health care just keeps rising and future policy will likely have to be tied to what the nation can afford to provide.

“We are now leaving an era of health-care reform and entering an era of economic reform and economic dispassion,” he said. “I’m optimistic about this, and I think we’ll do the right thing. But realize this global dispassion is a very real factor.”

Leavitt said health-care organizations will see “substantial downward pressure” by the government to lower reimbursements for Medicare and Medicaid services over the next five years, and providers will increasingly have to integrate themselves to meet those challenges.

“We’re now seeing health-care organizations network to have everything they need,” he said. “Now, everybody is a general contractor, but in the future they’ll be part of an integrated network. We’re beginning to see the world of health care integrating itself because of a Darwinian response toward global dispassion.”

Leavitt said the current debate centers on the role of government in health care. “What’s happening is we’re trying to decide if the government should organize the system or run the system,” he said. “I believe we’ll find something in the middle where government is organizing it and the marketplace is running it.”

Leavitt said he has “no question” that the health-care system of the future will require rationing of care and some providers will go out of business. “Not every hospital or every clinic will survive, but those who position themselves to skillfully navigate the changes of the next decade will,” he said.

Leavitt said reshaping the U.S. health-care system will be up to a new generation of leaders. “This may be this generation’s challenge and it will involve sacrifice, and the answers won’t come from Capitol Hill,” he said.

Leavitt, who is also a three-time governor of Utah, now leads Leavitt Partners, a consulting firm in the areas of health care and food safety. His presentation at the Embassy Suites was the final installment of this year’s Monfort School of Business’ “Building Business Excellence” series.

on Facebook on LinkedIn