245057 Shrinking America to deliver integrated healthcare

Monday, October 31, 2011: 2:50 PM

Philip Weintraub, MSc, Public Health, DLSHTM , Healthcare Management Advisors, Palm Beach Gardens, FL
John Ellingson, MBA , ProForma Healthcare Solutions, Partner, Decatur, GA
Offered as a solution to increase healthcare access, quality and cost containment, integrated healthcare delivery models were prescribed under the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act enacted in March 2010 including Accountable Care Organizations, Medical Homes and Health Homes.

In rural America, a large number of small and often financially constrained healthcare providers must consolidate, collaborate and clinically align, to meet the requirement for the minimum number (5,000) of Medicare beneficiaries. Together, rural healthcare providers and their public health community stakeholders must be able to connect to a broadband network capable of near real-time transmission of very large and rich media files. To accomplish this goal, approximately 65 million rural Americans must be brought closer to the same access and quality of healthcare as urban Americans. In essence, we must shrink America.

There are significant obstacles to shrinking America. Deregulation of telecommunications has diminished the likelihood of universal service for advanced services, such as internet access and broadband, in favor of letting the market determine which areas obtain service. Today, few rural markets have broadband access through multiple points of presence. Under the FCC's net neutrality ruling, users of high bandwidth applications, like telemedicine, over wireless networks are at the mercy of monopolistic pricing.

While the New National Broadband Plan could provide basic service, we would argue that the demands of rural America healthcare connectivity require the highest bandwidth infrastructure available. Without recognizing this need, integrated healthcare in large sections of the Midwest section of the United States cannot succeed.

Learning Areas:
Administration, management, leadership
Advocacy for health and health education
Clinical medicine applied in public health
Provision of health care to the public
Public health administration or related administration
Public health or related laws, regulations, standards, or guidelines

Learning Objectives:
1.) Describe three advantages for the delivery of integrated healthcare to patients and other community stakeholders. 2.) Explain three constraints in the delivery of integrated healthcare in rural America. 3.) Indentify and explain a solution to the achieving the necessary connectivity to deliver quality integrated healthcare to rural America.

Keywords: Access to Health Care, Rural Health

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: Philip Weintraub is the Founder and Managing Director of Healthcare Management Advisors. Healthcare Management Advisors' mission is to assist and advise healthcare organizations with strategic and financial planning with respect to the potential impact of healthcare reform. Mr. Weintraub also serves as a part-time faculty member of the Kent State University, College of Public Health. Mr. Weintraub was awarded an MSc in Public Health from the University of London and a post-graduate diploma (DLSHTM) from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Mr. Weintraub has focused on the delivery of quality public healthcare including serving as a trustee, member of the executive and finance committees and the treasurer of a medical center. He subsequently served as a member of a county’s healthcare district’s finance committee and as a member of selected task groups. In 2010 and 2011, he served as a manuscript reviewer for the Annals of Internal Medicine, American College of Physicians. He was recognized by the Annals of Internal Medicine as one of the best manuscript reviewers of 2010. He has extensive experience as an instructor and speaker for corporate, government, professional and trade organizations. Mr. Weintraub’s prior business experience includes serving as president and chief executive officer of companies in the computer information services, investment banking, and the financial services industry as well as an audit partner with the international public accounting firm of Deloitte (formerly Deloitte Haskins & Sells). From 1983 to 1984, he served as the Special Assistant to the Vice-Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System. Mr. Weintraub received an award recognizing his service to the federal government by President Reagan. In 1983, he received a CPCU Designation, from the American Institute of Property and Liability Underwriters, Inc.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.