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Skip Brickley: Healthcare Reform Should Happen At The Community Level

December 15th, 2008 by Dr. Val Jones in Expert Interviews

Skip Brickley

Skip Brickley is the master mind behind the popular Consumer Health World conference series. He is a natural communicator, and a bundle of positive energy. I was pleased to have the chance to interview him last week about his provocative views on healthcare reform. Enjoy the conversation:

Dr. Val: Tell me about the importance of “community” in healthcare reform.

Brickley: I’ve been thinking about the healthcare problem in this country for many years. First of all, I believe that the wellness of a community is related to the economic health of that community. Therefore, improving healthcare is about improving the economic health of this country at the community level. Successful communities like Silicon Valley, Raleigh-Durham, and Cambridge, Massachusetts have similar underlying reasons for their success: they figured out what they’re good at, learned out how to monetize it, and then found the necessary support for a global reach. They involved all the key stakeholders (at the community level) in their singular purpose: educational institutions, government, consumers, businesses, and non-profit partners.

Although I don’t agree with Hillary Clinton on her approach to healthcare reform, I think she’s right about starting at the community level. Our education system must teach people to value their health as their #1 asset, to provide them with the tools and training necessary to manage their personal finance, and to create ongoing programs to keep the community focus in the forefront. People need to feel that their health choices don’t just affect them, but it impact their entire community.

For example, when we realized that second-hand smoke could be deadly to others, we were able to enact legislation to ban smoking from common areas, and dramatically reduce the population’s overall exposure to cigarette smoke. We need to make that leap in healthcare too – for example, eating two Big Macs at a time is like second-hand smoking for those around you. Because that kind of lifestyle choice is going to cost your community a lot in the future when they have to pay for the inevitable health consequences of such behavior.

When the individual consumer has no contract in the health relationship, any health initiative is doomed to fail. Community leaders must rise up to help us change the culture of health in America. We must align healthcare with community economics – providing incentives for behavior change, and effective education to make people aware that bad choices affect us all. Cowtowing to the whims of consumers is what caused our current financial crisis – we need leaders who will do what’s best for communities, rather than follow faddish trends.

Dr. Val: What is “Health 3.0?”

Brickley: Health 3.0 is where the consumer and the provider engage online together. If providers don’t connect with consumers online, there will be no trust developed and the two groups will continue to exist in parallel universes.

Dr. Val: What inspired you to create the Consumer Health World conference?

Brickley: I wanted the conference to be a catalyst for change. I’m a conversation facilitator – and the event brings together key healthcare stakeholders so they can plan a multi-faceted, community-based approach to healthcare reform. If we can inspire communities to organize themselves around personal responsibility, teamwork between providers and patients online, and legislated incentives for behavior modification – all the while using the “Silicon Valley model” to encourage entrepreneurial, local economic development – we can reform healthcare and improve the health of this country, one community at a time. Consumer Health World stimulates discussion amongst the people who have the power to make these changes a reality. I can’t wait to witness the fruit of these discussions.

Tags: Consumer Health World, Health 3.0, Skip Brickley