Health Care Reform or Health Reform?

While the 2012 Presidential election is over, questions and debate about health care reform are certainly not. The debate in Washington and in state capitols is focused on changing payments and taxes.

But what if we changed the conversation to reform health, instead of health care?

Rebecca Onie, a MacArthur fellow, poses this question about reforming health for at risk patients: what if doctors could prescribe food or housing, instead of just drugs? What if waiting rooms were areas for patient advocacy, helping to connect those patients to essential services?

This provocative and inspiring talk by Onie shows we can expand our imagination of what health care is and what it can be to address the root causes of poor health.

Incorporating a wider variety of interprofessional care that treats all aspects of patients health-related problems is going to be an essential part of the health care process for patients at all levels of the economic ladder.