Have you ever felt “compelled” to do something? That compulsion, that need, that force, was never more intense for me than it was throughout 2010 following the enactment of one of America’s most influential laws in decades – The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (i.e., PPACA or Health Care Reform). Health care reform is here and is here to stay, in one form or another. Health care reform will be transformational, disruptive and chaotic, with winners and losers. There will be both followers and resisters. In the end, after a passion to learn more and help guide others throughout this dynamically changing era, I decided to write a book, and I did.
I partnered with a world-recognized futurist, David Houle, to co-author The New Health Age: The Future of Health Care in America. David speaks regularly to professionals and business leaders on a global basis, advising on future trends and directions. To learn more about my co-author, please see www.davidhoule.com.
Combine David’s respected knowledge about the future with my perspectives about the health care industry and health care reform, and the result is a book that David and I believe identifies all the chaos and chatter around health care today and organizes the dialog into helpful and accurate “context.”
We will release the Professional Edition of our book in early June of this year, and we will publish the Public Edition later this summer. The thrust of the book is simple – we detail the dramatic changes, incredible breakthroughs, and totally-altered thinking about health, medicine and health care delivery that will occur during the twenty-first century.
Massive change is ahead and the migration will not be easy. A new age is beginning. We are at an inflection point in the history of medicine and health care. Such times are triggered by multiple dynamics and forces that occur simultaneously to lead us into a new place, a new time, and a new reality. The most important thing to realize is that it is not just one force, but many, at the same time, that are converging with historical imperative to move us into the new landscape of medicine and health care.
Most feel uneasy when confronted with change. It is human nature to identify with the status quo. So change, in and of itself, can create a sense of anxiety. This is accentuated when the direction and shape of the change is not readily apparent. If we all knew that The New Health Age would be better for all of us, for the benefit of America, we would excitedly anticipate it. Those that expect to benefit will embrace the change, and those that fear that the change will hurt them economically, will resist the change. Both positions, while understandable, are much too narrow perceptively to have any accuracy or depth. Self-interest has always been a primary driver in human endeavor. The problem with looking at the impending shift from a narrow point of view, or through the lens of legacy-thinking, is that this huge historical shift encompasses a multitude of converging forces that transcend simple self- interest.
The book will help us face the future of health care in America, and will exemplify how Blalock Walters strives to “make a difference” for our clients, community, state and nation.
For those interested in obtaining a copy of the book, please contact me at jfleece@blalockwalters.com.
More to come! Be well.
