By: Jerry Friedman
Associate Vice President in the Office of Health Sciences and
Advisor for Health Policy at The Ohio State University Medical Center
The breadth and depth of how health care reform would impact academic medicine was revealed and explored during a panel discussion at the Ohio State University Medical Center (OSUMC). Congresswoman Mary Jo Kilroy (OH-15) kicked off the event with remarks about the personal and political, health and economic imperatives that moved Congress to enact the transformational Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. She then joined health sciences leadership in a panel moderated by Dr. Steven G. Gabbe, OSU Medical Center CEO to discuss the impact the legislation would have on the health and wealth of our country and its citizens.
Education and research, nursing and pharmacy, diversity and disparities, medicine and insurance were all on the table for commentary. It became clear that the legislation contained opportunities for and challenges to the mission, vision and values of the Medical Center and OSU’s health science colleges. There were clear opportunities for alignment along the strategic path towards personalized medicine: patient centered, evidence based care that that would be preventive, predictive, personalized and participatory. There would be challenges as well.
OSUMC has thrived based on the way that medicine has historically been delivered and paid for, notwithstanding that system’s fragmentation, inefficiency and unsustainability. The challenge is readiness to change.
Can OSUMC adapt and lead that transformation? There is no question that our educators, researchers and patient care professionals have the ability.
The remaining question is: Do they, as Congress did, have the will?
