We are superheroes. Each of us with our own super power.
The power to diagnose. The power to heal. The power to palliate.
We roam the corridors of healthcare. We stomp out disease.
But we face an organized and powerful foe, the Legion of Doom. Its members have united and they threaten our existence.
High cost, limited resources, and unproven quality. Each is a member of the Legion of Doom. They will defeat us if we stand alone.
High Cost.
We operate our healthcare business with a transactional model. Each practitioner, each visit and each treatment is a trip to the cash register. We make money as we do more. The more we do, the more we cost.
Limited Resources.
Employers and individuals see their profits erode as healthcare expenditures rise. They find it hard to compete in a healthcare economy without a budget.
They face difficult questions. Do they relocate to affordable care? Do they layoff 200 employees to maintain the status quo? Who can they partner with to compete?
Quality.
You are being challenged. Prove that your care improves the life of your patient. At what cost?
High quality at a higher cost is no longer an option. Quality now has a budget and it must be engineered. You are pressed to identify standards of care that create reproducible effectiveness. For each patient. For your population of patients.
Money has a choice.
We watch the government. We talk of the Affordable Care Act and accountable care organizations. We debate constitutionality, bureaucracy, and politics. However, we may fail to see the bigger picture of the market.
Employers and individuals seek a system of high quality care at an affordable cost. They may need to leave you and your community to find it. Their lives depend on it.
The Legion of Doom will find them. The Legion of Doom will find you.
The Justice League of Medicine
Take a look around your practice. Your executive team. Your board of directors.
Are you a group of individuals sitting around a table representing individual interests? Or are you a cohesive group working together to respond to the needs of the market?
The Legion of Doom does not care about your individual physician, your individual group, or your individual hospital. In isolation you are weak. You will be picked off.
Your value to the market will come from your ability to understand and serve the needs of the whole. This needs to lead individual short-term interests. Yet, it will serve your long-term interests.
You are superheroes. It’s time to align your powers and work together. You must create the Justice League of Medicine. You must fight The Legion of Doom together. Or you will be defeated.
Photo: Cover to Justice League of America #1. Art by Mike Sekowsky.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:JLofA-1.jpg