While the battle over the budget continued to rage on Capitol Hill, over 200 people – representing think tanks, trade associations, government agencies, the media, etc. – gathered at the Willard Intercontinental Hotel for The Atlantic’s Health Care Forum. This forum, which NAPH was a sponsor of, drew the largest crowd The Atlantic has seen in the three years it has been hosting the forum, an indication that the debate over health care is far from over.

The forum included discussions with panelists, addresses from Francis Collins, Director of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and Governor Peter Shumlin of Vermont, and an interview with Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR). The discussions, which focused on the future of health care and health reform, integrated care, the future of medicine, and the role of providers and patients, featured panelists with a wide array of expertise within the health care field. This allowed for engaging, robust conversations about the opportunities and challenges the nation faces as it looks to the future of health care. NAPH’s CEO Bruce Siegel was invited to sit on the panel that debated integrated care and the merits of coordination to improve quality while lowering costs. Dr. Siegel talked about how the tools for integration are available, but incentives are not great enough to assume the risks attached to integrating large care systems, particularly for safety net providers. Dr. Siegel remarked that health care in America is being moved into the 21st century which presents many challenges, and is not easy, but is necessary.

Throughout the day, panelists and speakers kept touching on the need for coordination of care, culture change within the delivery of health care, and how information technology were all key in improving the health care system. To achieve lower costs while improving quality, encouraging patients to take responsibility for their own health and other improvements to the delivery of care, many changes will have to be made and attitudes will have to be altered. The panelists and speakers were hopeful–those in the audience got the feeling that the reforms needed would not be easy to achieve but more than ever the American health care system was moving in the right direction to better care for its citizens.

Innovations and research supporting health care improvements and new models of care can be found across the country. Moving forward, the challenge for providers, researchers, and policy makers will be to learn from and expand on what works and translate that into cost-effective, high-quality models of care. Forums, like this one, aid in promoting these important discussions as we look to the future of health care policy.