The Drive for Disruption

I'm ready to write a children's book about healthcare in America called “Bless This Mess.” The problem is we have to warn parents not to let their kids read it, so I'm not sure it would become another Goodnight Moon.

But I do believe we can fix this mess. We have the ideas. The question is whether we have the will. That's what I'm looking for in this election—which candidates at all levels are ready to support innovation, even disruption, in healthcare.

We've included in this issue my list of 12 disruptors for the demise of the old healthcare. To me, a “disruptor” creates change, which involves pain, especially to our traditional ways of doing business. But disruptors should always be what's best for patients and their communities. You'll see my list and how I believe both parties could get behind each disruptor.

This is the third issue of our new journal, Healthcare Transformation. Each has been fun to assemble and a great way to get people talking about their own ideas for change.

In this issue, we continue to have a student feature—the generation that will take over deserves to have its voice in print. Here, a medical student describes how virtual rounds lead her to appreciate the nuances and sometimes difficulties of hospitalization.

We have three experts giving us different pictures of change—how to do it, where it might move fastest, and how the consumer revolution may work in healthcare.

And on the cover, we have a legend: Andy Young. He certainly inspired me in our two conversations in Philadelphia and then on a trip to South Africa with him. In my book, the 12th and final disruptor is eliminating health disparities. It's perhaps one of the most difficult of changes because discrimination threads through so many institutions.

But when I talked with Andy Young, it felt like he's absorbed lifetimes of wisdom and has more to teach than we can learn.

Disruption without anger. That's his theme. It's ours to learn.