Ever since the year the Affordable Healthcare Act was passed, we learned what Unaffordable Healthcare looks like.  Prices have increased, deductibles have increased, the drop out rate of participating insurance companies have increased and disappointment of Americans increased as well.  While the Affordability has dramatically decreased.  Why?

• Prices have increased.
• Costs and Expenses have increased.
• Deductibles have increased.
• Waste in Healthcare continues to exist throughout the nationwide systems.
• Coverage and the value provided decreased, not meeting patient needs and requirements.

Affordable Healthcare is about improving delivery to meet and exceed patient requirements, increasing speed and velocity for responsiveness, increasing quality while reducing cost and price.  In February of 2016, I was a speaker at the Annual Georgia Hospital’s Association’s CEO Conference.  During that session, I presented a “Burning Platform, Critical Issues, Challenge” (using IOM data from 2009, the “Year of Obamacare”).  At that time, the U.S. was more expensive per capita than a multitude of other civilized countries, yielding a life expectancy less than more than 20 other countries around the world (see the chart below).

Until the Value of Healthcare becomes truly patient focused (not physician focused, not insurance focused, not pharmaceutical focused, not hospital focused), and the discipline of Affordability is instituted, we will continue to suffer from unaffordable healthcare.

Solution;

• True Patient Focus
• Meeting and exceeding patient requirements, needs, wishes and wants.
• Value = Healthy communities
• Value Delivery =  Providing the care required
• Increasing and improving speed of care and quality of care
• Lowering Costs of Expense to Deliver and Price of Care

Dr Deming used to say, “The Process is broke, fix the Process” … in this case, “The System is broke, fix the System!”