The Great American Reset - How You Can Make Change In Healthcare Stick

Richard Florida, author and American urban studies theorist

, articulates what many of us know - whether we are aware of that knowledge or not: Difficult economic times are society's opportunities to rebuild and redefine its processes, priorities and infrastructure... hitting a reset button if you will. America has done it before, and we can do it again.

Healthcare reform is a reset button, and it has the potential to make the reset one of the most critical policy changes of this generation. There's an effort to make sweeping changes - and progress - in healthcare information technology, benefits, reimbursement rates, quality standards, protocol and much more. These are exciting times regardless of your philosophical and political bent.

However, much of the potential for reset in healthcare is latently embedded in the individual. Systemic change is necessary, but without individual action it won't be effective or sustainable. Systemic-only change simply won't stick. Quoting "ScoutieGirl" in his May 28, 2010 blog posting, Florida shares the following:

"...the Great Reset is the shift that we are counting on to make the indie craft & design movement work. It's the shift that provides a hope for creative people to find real value in work that represents their true passion and for others to accept the true value of passionate work...

Florida has a similar thought, 'the Great Reset is not the result of overarching government policy - it's the result of the multitude of tiny resets that individuals are making all over the world.'

One of these tiny resets happens every time you - or a neighbor - decide to buy handmade instead of from a huge corporation..."

It bears repeating: "...the multitude of tiny resets that individuals are making all over the world."

While the healthcare system, under the watchful eye of government policy, resets itself, individual healthcare consumers - patients and their families - must trigger tiny individual resets. You might think of these tiny healthcare resets as a part of a proliferation of consumer action at a grassroots level. This may sound daunting or confusing, so let's put it into actionable, "sticky" terms.

Individual resets in the context of healthcare can include:

*Expecting a better experience in a physician's office or at another provider, i.e. shorter waiting time, less paperwork, clearer discharge information, etc.

*Becoming an active consumer of health, i.e. improving diet and exercise, committing to preventative treatment, fully understanding your care options and the costs and necessity of each, etc.

*Assuming greater personal responsibility for quality outcomes, i.e. following provider directions, asking for clarification when needed, educating yourself about your health and health issues, etc.

*Empowering yourself through technology, i.e. advocating for your providers to adopt electronic medical records, using an electronic personal health record for your own record keeping, etc.

Through these resets in our own behavior, our expectations of healthcare providers, and our expectations of the healthcare experience, individual actions collectively can drive effective, sustained change. My invitation to you is to become a part of that change, starting with one tiny reset at a time, and make a difference. After all, it's the American way.

by: beverly ingle

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