Healthcare... What Can Make It Better?

Ever since the Summit, I have seen more and more on just what needs to happen to improve our healthcare system.

Here's an opportunity for anyone with some thoughts and a video camera... Health 2.0 is accepting 2 minute video submissions that specifically address healthcare reform.  What do you think should change and how should it change?  This opportunity is a collaborative effort between Health 2.0 and the Center for Information Therapy.  (I had no idea what the Center for Information Therapy was all about and did some checking.)  This is a non-profit organization that "... aims to advance the practice and science of information therapy to improve health, consumer decision making and healthy behaviors..."

I LOVED this statement in one of the white papers shared by the Center for Information Therapy:

" Imagine....

Imagine a world in which clinicians delivered just the right information to their patients at precisely the right moment.  Imagine that clinicians were able to focus their limited time helping well-prepared patients to put that information into perspective for their particular situations, guiding them to a decision that balances the best available scientific evidence with what matters most to them.  Imagine that the collaboration continues over time, with clinicians delivering tailored information at the right time to help people consistently make informed choices and do their right things for themselves.  You may say that we’re dreamers, but we’re not the only ones…"

It sure seems to me that the Center for Information Therapy might be interested in the role physical therapists can play in the musculoskeletal world.  Do "clinicians" have all the available options to be shared with patients that have a main complaint of low back pain?  Probably not based on the literature which seems to suggest low utilization of physical therapists in the treatment of low back pain.

I challenge someone to submit a video and plant the seed for change... the system needs to change to implement strategies that are less costly and more effective than the current delivery of care.

~Selena