Turning Healthcare Around in the U.S.
Dr. Earl E. Bakken
Co-Founder and Chairman Emeritus, Medtronic, Inc.
President, Five Mountain Medical Community
There is a problem in the U.S. with healthcare management. Third party payers and government are trying to control healthcare costs by controlling the supply. This must be changed. Control of healthcare dollars must be put into the hands of the consumers who control the demand.
Managed care must go. Doctors and Third party payers can no longer manage the healthcare decisions for the consumers. Consumers must become self-managers of their own healthcare.
As consumers educate themselves (predominantly via the Internet) regarding whole person care (mind, body, and spirit) and integrated medicine (allopathic and complementary) a higher emphasis on quality will result.
In North Hawaii, through the Five Mountains and Healing Island initiatives, we are creating a new model for healthcare. We are accomplishing this by thinking locally, and working globally. Our first priority is to improve the health of our community. Secondarily, we want to share what we know and what we are learning with the world.