Virginia’s Secretary of Health and Human Resources said he hears the same question wherever he goes.
“The question I am asked most is … what are you going to do when the Supreme Court rules” on the federal health care overhaul, said William A. Hazel Jr., speaking at a health care conference in Richmond organized by the Virginia Chamber of Commerce.
“What I would like to tell you is, that is the wrong question,” Hazel told hundreds attending the meeting at the Greater Richmond Convention Center.
“The question is: What are we going to do with a $14 trillion federal debt?” Hazel said. “What are we going to do with an unhealthy, aging workforce? How are we going to take care of all these people?”
What the Supreme Court decides is important, he said. “But at the end of the day, you can’t defy the laws of economics.”
Hazel’s comments echoed those of other speakers who stressed that quality, affordable health care is increasingly becoming an economic development issue, determining where jobs are created as companies look at regions with lower costs but also high quality of life.
Hazel and other speakers said innovation will be the key to solving the crisis of rising health care costs, and they stressed to business leaders at the conference that the private sector should lead the way.
The greatest threat to national security is not terrorism, said Paul Grundy, director of health care technology and strategic initiatives for IBM, but “unsustainable cost escalation in health care.”
“It is the largest part of why we are really in trouble with our national debt,” he said. “It is the single largest cost item for most states.”
He said the United States has developed some of the best “episode based” health care in the world — for example, providing organ transplants. But is hasn’t focused enough on how to prevent the health conditions that lead to those episodes.
Grundy favors a model of health care delivery called the patient-centered medical home, which involves team-based care led by a physician responsible for comprehensive and continuous care to a population of patients.
“The core concept is really about giving patients meaningful access — the ability to have a healing relationship focusing on following up and following through,” he said.
Technological change, especially the growing capacity to collect, process, store and transfer data about patient health among providers, can produce better outcomes and lower costs, he said.
Rob McClintock, director of research for the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, told the audience that quality of life and workforce development are among the top concerns for companies considering investing in Virginia. That includes access to affordable and quality health care.
“Quality and accessibility to care is beginning to show up at the regional level for site selection consultants and their clients,” he said.
Part of the effort to reduce costs and improve outcomes in Virginia is being channeled through the Virginia Center for Health Innovation, a nonprofit that was recently created with grant money from several companies and healthcare organizations. Its offices are in Richmond.
The goal of center is to be a “one-stop shop” in Virginia for information on health care innovation, and to bring together many different stakeholders to exchange ideas, said Beth Bortz, the center’s president and chief executive officer.
“One of the most important things we have discovered is there is innovation going on throughout the country,” Bortz said. “But right now, you would be hard pressed to go to one place in Virginia and find out what is working in other places that would be really good to bring here to Virginia.”
“We need the one-stop shop, where everyone can go and find out the latest and greatest information on health innovation in the commonwealth,” she said.
