Given our industry's unique role in health care, we can bring together innovators, stakeholders, patients, elected officials and anyone who has a viewpoint to share about the state of health care in America.
Inventor Thomas Edison once said, “If we did all the things we are capable of, we would literally astound ourselves.”
As President and CEO at PhRMA, I have the opportunity to work closely with all members of the health care ecosystem on issues ranging from medical innovation to Medicare. Throughout my travels and discussions, one theme has become increasingly clear: despite unique viewpoints, experiences and priorities, everyone in health care today is driven by the common purpose of delivering high-quality care to patients. We’ve made significant progress in recent years, but our work is just beginning. The next decade will present opportunities and challenges that will shape our ability to meet shared goals in the years to come.
To do so, it's critical that we compare notes and exchange ideas. Far too often, we collectively define the problem without advancing actionable solutions. In order to help form new opportunities for dialogue on solutions, we plan to host “Conversations,” an ongoing and open forum about what's working, what isn't working, where we're headed and, above all, how we can meet the needs of patients. Given our industry's unique role in health care, we can bring together innovators, stakeholders, patients, elected officials and anyone who has a viewpoint to share about the state of health care in America. It's clear that the need exists and we want to help address it.
We aren’t going to agree all the time, nor should we. However, healthy debate is the foundation of progress and advancement. Only through a collection of distinct voices and opinions will we fully explore key issues and questions: What are the key improvements in care delivery necessary to meet patient needs? Are we doing enough to prioritize innovation? What will it take to help make personalized medicine a reality?
This is just the start of what we will cover and we want to hear from you. If you have questions and/or answers, we will make a point to feature them as we go.
More to come in the next few weeks, but I wanted to introduce this forum. It's up to all of us to make this a true conversation and I encourage you to help us convene and lead it. Our team is eager to hear your thoughts and feedback as we pull this together.
