08 May Innovation Digest – May 2018 vol. 1

Creating a culture of health in the United States requires that we focus policy and practice on the end user. Patients and their caregivers and families must use too many resources, both emotional and monetary, trying to navigate and make sense of our convoluted system of care. Those with co-morbid or chronic health needs often face more extensive challenges. Leader voices abound with solutions that could fundamentally change this reality. Using technology to facilitate access and participation by patients in their care is certainly a step forward, as is creating a clearer, more transparent environment for price information. But we must go farther, to understand the health goals and priorities of patients, and to design and finance care that can meet those needs, even beyond the medical model. Perhaps the most important and most challenging changes need to eliminate barriers – data, legal, financial, racial, geographical – that undermine even the best-designed system.

In this issue:

• Putting Our Principles to Work
• Providence St. Joseph launches national telemedicine network
• VA health system outperforming other providers, new study shows
• Survey Says: We’re Missing an Opportunity to Engage Women in Their Health Care
• 5 ways policymakers could lower drug prices
• Improving Patient Involvement in Care
• Let’s talk about drug costs
• No One Is Free From Harm: The danger of having no one in charge of coordinating care
• CVS gives pharmacists, doctors tools to cut drug spending