Our government is not
capable of doing something different and thus solving our healthcare crisis;
it participates in shock and dismay and it is the status quo. Notably, there
is a general, perceptible, and resigned attitude from some federal and state
legislators and staffers towards Health and Human Services (HHS);
specifically, their observations are that HHS is too bureaucratic and has too
many challenges to solve problems creatively. Collective wisdom and guidance
is to work with other departments that have to solve the healthcare crisis
quickly and on their own and ones that are not bogged down in status quo. The
list of other departments is illustrative ? Department of Defense, Bureau of
Indian Affairs, the Veteran Administration, and state departments of human
services (as opposed to health and human services). Perhaps in recognition of
the federal government?s inability to solve the problem, Congress authorized
and appropriated federal money to go from HHS to fund state projects intended
to experiment with solutions.
We can solve our healthcare
crisis by respecting the power of shock and dismay and status quo and putting
our faith in the power of capitalism. You are the supply-side of healthcare
business. No one reacts quicker to an opportunity to make money than American
businessmen and women. Let classic capitalism work freely. If freedoms of
healthcare practice and choice and healthcare transparency result in better
and cheaper healthcare, the American public will demand them. If new or even
status quo businesses conclude that they can make money with these freedoms
and transparency, they will provide them with or without government action.
For analogy,
global warming is another subject or crisis area of which the American public
is aware. Did the U.S. Government lead the nation?s response to a global
outcry (Kyoto treaty) ? NO! Instead, the American public decided that energy
conservation and reduced emissions are in their best interests and American
business has responded to meet the demand. Now, even as our federal government
remains inactive, states are leading the way with new legislation and our
buying habits are changing (for example, we are buying new florescent lights
instead of incandescent lights). Businesses are profiting from being ?Green?
and are selling ?Green?. Make healthcare freedoms and transparency the new
Green.
ABC Codes concluded a long
time ago that they would provide freedom of healthcare practice and choice.
Their codes and eClaim.biz are tools to empower you to be competitive and they
need to be used. What might the impact be? ABC Codes and eClaim.biz are
innovative technologies that will solve the healthcare crisis (see Dr. Clayton
Christensen of the Harvard Business School and author of ?The Innovators
Dilemma? and ?The Innovators Solution? in a interview with Mark Smith from the
California HealthCare Foundation).