Here’s a hot take for you. I just learned what a hot take was last week, so, of course, I needed to get me one on the quick. The thing with hot takes, from what I understand, is that they are open for discussion. What I’m talking about today is something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and I would be interested in your thoughts, since probably some finesse is needed here.
I want to talk about the imperative of collaborating with organizations across the care continuum, even the ones you may have a problem with.
Let us begin by discussing why collaboration is so vital if the intention is to improve patient care, quality, and lower costs. The story really begins with fragmentation. Turns out, the US ranks last among 10 other countries in a recent study on healthcare systems. One of the reasons why is the fragmentation of professionals and patients and siloed health information. This is from a Commonwealth Fund study.
In fact, according to an AJMC article I found the other day—or do a Google search for any number of others—fragmentation is associated with increased costs of care, a higher chance of having a departure from clinical best practice, higher rates of preventable hospitalizations … Even among patients with the same chronic condition, lower quality happened and costs were higher in patients who received more fragmented care.
So, nothing for nothing, but it’s kinda self-evident that to fix American healthcare, we need to fix fragmentation. But to fix fragmentation, stakeholders along the care continuum have to—God forbid!—collaborate and work with each other.
For more information, go to aventriahealth.com.
When not hosting the show, Stacey is co-president of Aventria Health Group, a marketing agency and consultancy. Aventria specializes in helping pharmaceutical, employer, pharmacy, and health system clients improve patient outcomes by creating and leveraging collaborations with other health care organizations. For more than 20 years, Stacey has innovated better-coordinated health solutions benefiting all stakeholders and, most of all, the patient.
00:12 What’s Stacey’s hot take on collaboration in healthcare?
00:43 Why is collaboration so vital, and how does fragmentation play into that?
01:38 “To fix American healthcare, we need to fix fragmentation.”
03:23 “Nobody gets to be holier than thou.”
04:38 What is the bottom line on collaboration in healthcare?
05:20 What’s the difference between collaboration and collusion?
05:35 “More is not usually better.”