5176.0: Wednesday, November 15, 2000 - 3:15 PM

Abstract #15155

A Prescription for Change:

Richard C. O'Sullivan, MA, Economics, Chief Economist, The Forbes Group, 10355 Democracy Lane, Fairfax, VA 21012, 410-647-2140, rosullivan@aol.com

For two years the National Wholesale Druggists Association (NWDA) has undertaken research on the lifestyle and environmental practices that drive healthcare demand and the barriers that compromise public efforts to improve the general health of society. The report entitled A Prescription for Change, recently published by The Economist of London, concluded that because healthcare is universally among the most regulated industries, true innovation is taking place outside traditional healthcare markets and some of the most significant advances are taking place outside the public health debate. Through new kinds of private-public partnerships that focus on improving the home and work environment in which care is being delivered, public and private healthcare providers can reduce, not the cost, but the demand for healthcare. To do so, the roles and relationships of medical and healthcare professionals, product developers, and the patient must be redefined. Empowering the patient means more than sending him home.

This goal will require new approaches to healthcare delivery and even how we define what healthcare is. How must our perceptions of healthcare delivery be changed when it moves out of the institution and into the home and when the patient becomes an active and equal partner in managing health and disease?

This presentation will examine how the "deinstitutionalization" of healthcare must redefine traditional roles, create opportunities and challenges for both public health officials and private sector providers, and create new support infrastructures. And how public health officials can turn to new innovative private sector suppliers and partners to create community-based solutions.

Learning Objectives: At the end of this session attendees will: 1. Analyze the demographic, economic, and technological trends that are reshaping the public's oerceptions and definitions of healthcare. 2. Understand how the "deinstitutionalization" of healthcare is creating new healthcare delivery challenges 3. Recognize the opportunities for innovative private-public partnerships in shifting to community-based care systems 4. Identify the changes required to public and private sector healthcare delivery systems to respond to the challenges of 21st century care

Presenting author's disclosure statement:
Organization/institution whose products or services will be discussed: None
I do not have any significant financial interest/arrangement or affiliation with any organization/institution whose products or services are being discussed in this session.

The 128th Annual Meeting of APHA