Question

Highlights a significant innovative model in a healthcare system. What was the burning platform for change? What have been the business results?

Answer 1

Unlike US, developed countries like UK has a tightly integrated funding and delivery system for public health care, with a firm commitment to health care being free except for medicines prescribed by general practioners. the innovators has to pay close attention to the terms and conditions of various finance resources that a social innovator should consider and call up on.

The USA has traditionally had monetary resources flowing from 'payers' to 'finance intermediers'to 'providers' (hospitals, doctors and pharmacies) to producers of health care (pharmaseutical companies, diagnosis machine markers etc). Insurance is the corner stone of the system

Supportive culture

Advice and mutual support from peers, intermediary organisations and networks can be highly valuable in enabling social innovations to grow and develop. Use of health care 'collaboratives' such as a group of people with a common interest debates topic on discussion board, identify hints and tips for change management. Such sources of knowledge -tested, debated and refined- are highly useful to designing and implementing social innovation. Another aspect of 'social innovation' is identifying "differences" as opportunities to make improvements in the society. For eg: Counselling services for those in need through telephonic services.

Wider value

Like any other major employer such as purchase of goods and services , halth services can do much to promote a social and environmentally sustainable society

value is potentially obtained in one or more of seven categories

• Income
• employment
• Health
• Education
• housing
• Environment
• Crime

Restructuring of health care requires 'core of care' that involves the following

• A federally defined standard package of essential health care services
• Planned change to anticipate the needs of the population with changing dmographics
• Steps to decrease costs
• Insurance reforms
• case mangement
• Assured access to health for all
• Establishment of public/private sector review

Health-care Financing reforms

Financing must be tried through an income based premium that would go into the publicly administered health insurance fund

Supplemental financing ( to adjust for no-income or low income ) should come from an extra tax on those with moderate to high Income or from tax on products that are known to contributr directly to health care costs such as fatty foods, tobacco and alcohol

Disbursement of health care funds should occur in two ways. Firstly, a strict federal program which enroll all Americans who are not privately insured and disburse funds through a program similar to Medicare or Federal Employees Health Benefit plan. second option, is disbursement of funds from Federal government through states for payment to providers

The burning platform for change is universal access and cost containment

World Bank evaluation shows that public health interventions have been found to be consistently more cost effective than medical services, yet health reform policies have paid less attention to this critical issue. In addition, the current emphasis on managing medical care for cost containment disregards the social and environmental genesis of many health problems