A "Healthy" Debate

I have been following the discussion and debate around our health care crisis and alternative solutions with particular interest. As a human resources practitioner and consultant I have probably been involved with health care in one fashion or another for thirty years.

The discussion of whether or not we should have a national plan is particularly interesting, as is the general debate on where the "fault" is for where we are at today.

I used the word crisis because I believe we really do have a crisis. Although I think we have some of the most sophisticated systems and processes in the world we have huge issues with our delivery system. It is also interesting to me how little the average person understands or aspires to understand the health care system.

I had a chance to listen to a HBR (Harvard Business Review) Idea Cast with Dr. Richard Bohmer the other day. It was probably one of the most succinct discussions of the issues with health care that I have heard in years. Dr. Bohmer points out that there are really are three major issues with our health care system in his mind: how we define a service, how we finance health care, and how we deliver health care. I found his discussion really valuable. He also gives a great explanation of the difference between managing health care which deals with defining and delivering services as opposed to "managed care" which he refers to as an insurance or financing model. I won't bore you with all the details, but I will tell you it is a value added 13 minutes to listen to his interview.

Health care is delivered and defined in his opinion currently as a series of separate events beginning with diagnosis and then proceeding through treatment and "follow up". He argues that health care delivery and costing should be based on outcomes rather than the way we currently track and price it. It is kind of like lean manufacturing or total quality; success is determined by outcome not process.

What I found interesting is most of the debate I hear is about providing access to care and financing, I hear very little about outcomes.

The other thing I find I hear very little about is the individuals responsibility in their health care. I don't mean just paying for it, I mean accountability for lifestyle choices and related activities that directly and indirectly affect health care costs.

Most of us have historically had our health care provided through our employer, our spouses employer, or in some cases the government. We pay a fraction of the real cost and understand the way it works like we understand Cantonese. The insurance industry doesn't make it much easier. For years health care was considered like paid time off a "fringe benefit". Then we noticed that the cost of that particular fringe benefit continued to go up at double digit rates long after wage inflation receded. By that time we had created an entitlement.

When this becomes particularly interesting is when we start to track connections. Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford believes (and I agree) that much of our health care related costs connect directly or indirectly to our work environment. If you are stressed about your job it effects your health. If you are stressed about your home life it effects your work. Some studies say it costs us $200 billion annually! In a shaky economy when you are concerned about losing your job and your health care benefits the problem accelerates.

I also believe at least at this stage there is little about personal accountability in health care delivery. We are suing Big Tobacco successfully for misleading advertising and withholding information about the addictive and health risks of smoking, but we are reluctant to reduce or deny care to smokers.

We want to label the calorie content in food, but do we want to deny or reduce coverage to those who have bad eating or exercise habits? Are we ready for employers to require wellness programs and screening as a function of company provided health care insurance?

Do companies educate their employees about things they can do to affect their health and the companies costs? Not many in my experience. Should we allow "tiered" coverage for people who deliberately practice behaviors that could or actually affect their health?

I don't mean to imply that as Dr. Bohmer points out "fixing" health care is a complicated issue, but should we be addressing personal accountability along with delivery, definition, and financing?r

To me this speaks of respect, engagement, and personal competency. What do you think?

The Power Of Relationships

As you all know I agree with Margaret Wheatley that the most important influence in organizations is relationships; not systems, not technology, but relationships.

I had the occasion to join a friend last evening with a friend and colleague of his I hadn't previously met. I found his friend to be charming, personable and very articulate. As our discussion turned to the inevitable " so what business are you in", he said that he worked for an organization that distributes a pharmaceutical type of product that is manufactured in Europe. What was especially interesting was that he shared their "distribution" network was almost exclusively based on relationship selling; no large sales force , no "cold calling". It is based on trust and referral.

A week or so ago I mentioned an article by Jeffrey Pfeffer of Stanford. He opined that much of the issue with health care in the United States is in many ways relationship based; most Americans rely on their employer for health care and for economic security. Compared to other countries our "safety net" is pretty small. He talked about the effects of stress about their employment and the accompanying systems like health care tied to employment and the direct correlation to health care issues. I agree with him.

I read some articles and listened to a couple of "idea casts" on BNET this week that illustrated the same thing from a different angle- the relationship between employees and leaders and how in these times especially employees watch their leaders for any sign of positive or negative events or signs. They do that normally, but in these times it is exacerbated to the nth degree. Marcus Buckingham says the most important attribute of leadership is clarity- people want to believe their leaders have a vision.

My own personal research validates information published by Peppers and Rogers, BlessingWhite, Gallup, and others about the power of engagement. I am talking about true engagement which includes customer, employee, shareholder, and stakeholder. Organization's with high engagement outperform their competitors consistently and by an order of magnitude. Engagement is about relationships.

I have written and spoken a lot lately about social networks and their increasing importance in communications strategy. I believe that social networking is about relationships.

I have also written and spoken about the "social contract". In historical times the poor were tied to the wealthy. They literally "belonged" to the property or estate for hundreds of years. The American "experiment" was all about eliminating that. You could come here and reinvent yourself.
You could homestead a piece of property of start a business. Then we ran out of frontier. Consistent with the rest of the world the Industrial revolution occurred. We exchanged the value of personal competence for the promise of "security" in return for "obedience" The power of the great capitalist was tempered only by the labor movement. That was about relationships,
however dysfunctional.

The "world" economy changed that social contract. American industry was not always dominant, our quality suffered and correspondingly so did our market share. Interestingly much of the "new" management models like lean manufacturing and TQM have very strong relationship components to them. U.S. companies retreated from economic security in return for "loyalty". Traditional pension plans are almost obsolete. The parental relationship between employers and employed relative to health care is in crisis mode. Our health care model is parental. We don't address root causes of costs, we shift them around. People don't want to share responsibility for their health or the costs of treating them. That is a relationship, although another dysfunctional one.

I am not suggesting that a "parental" model is appropriate. Anybody that has ever heard me speak, worked with me, or read any of my writing knows better. I rather like the concept of "personal competence" and relationships founded on mutual respect and honesty between employer and employed, taxpayer and government, supplier and customer, and individuals. A relationship based on respect, information, and mutual responsibility and built on a foundation of trust. Maybe I am just nostalgic or misguided, but I think that is what the Founding Fathers meant so many years ago when they formed this country.

Tomorrow is Independence Day, maybe a good day to reflect on what they meant and the critical relationships in each of our lives. I think that is what I'll do, how about you?