The healthcare sector is on the cusp of sweeping disruption. The hallmarks of the old system-pricing that's disconnected from outcomes and incentives for treating sickness rather than maintaining health-are no longer sustainable. And yet, after decades of financial success, it's difficult for most established industry players to grapple with meaningful changes to their business models. In their latest book, Bringing Value to Healthcare: Practical Steps for Getting to a Market-Based Model, Rita Numerof and Michael Abrams lay out the roadmap to a healthcare system that is accountable for delivering optimal patient outcomes at a sustainable cost. Based on in-depth research and decades of experience consulting with leading hospitals, insurers, and device and drug manufacturers, Numerof and Abrams provide a market-based approach to addressing the ills of the current healthcare system. In addition to highlighting industry challenges and opportunities, the authors also outline the changes required of consumers, employers, and policy makers to move to a patient-centered model characterized by value, accountability, and transparency. This is the handbook for payer, provider, pharmaceutical, and medical device executives who are seeking to preserve today's profitability while positioning their organizations for success in the very different markets of tomorrow. The book's guidance is illuminated by case studies and each chapter concludes with a self-assessment tool and key questions. Getting to a new future isn't easy. But if it can't be envisioned, it can't be realized. Bringing Value to Healthcare is that critical first step.

If the furious debate around the state of healthcare in the US has led to any consensus, it's that the system should be delivering better quality for less cost than it does. The truth is that our healthcare system is a sprawling mix of competing interests in which those of the patient are valued least. Too much discussion has devolved to simplistic scapegoating, and too few comprehensive, constructive solutions have been offered. It's time for a fresh vision. In straightforward language, Healthcare at a Turning Point: A Roadmap for Change outlines a new market-based business model that aligns industry financing mechanisms with the goals of prevention, improved quality, and reduced costs. Drawing on more than 25 years of cross-industry consulting experience, the authors: Articulate a market-based vision of the industry Examine past efforts to reduce costs, their failures and their unanticipated consequences Spotlight perverse incentives that distort the way the healthcare system operates and make it less than it could be Present concrete recommendations for change within the healthcare delivery, insurance, pharmaceutical, device and diagnostics sectors Explain the changes that employers, consumers and policy makers can make to create a more customer-responsive system that delivers more value For all the uncertainty in the current environment, there is also a rare opportunity to fundamentally redefine who wins in this market. Healthcare at a Turning Point provides guidance to executives ready for that contest as well as a roadmap for change.