Sen. Bill Bradley addresses Southcoast Hospitals Group physicians

Former Sen. Bill Bradley talked about health reform with physicians from Southcoast Hospitals Group Photo credit: Deborah Hynes

SWANSEA, Mass. — Former Sen. Bill Bradley called for health care reform that focused on the "health of the patient" and a new system that offers "total transparency" for quality and cost last night at the Southcoast Hospitals Group physician annual meeting.

"I think we have the best health care in the world, but we do not have the best health care system," said Bradley, addressing more than 170 Southcoast Hospitals Group physicians in Swansea.

"The health of the patient has to be the central goal of the entire system and incentives [for hospitals, physicians, insurers and medical device manufacturers] have to be aligned to achieve that objective," he said.

"We need to be clear: There are no partial answers. The goal is to improve the overall health of all people, to keep our technological edge, to cover the unexpected [health incident] and to allow people to die in dignity."

Bradley, who is now a managing partner at Allen & Co. in New York and hosts a radio show on Sirius XM Radio, was invited to speak through Rev. Dr. Robert Lawrence, Pastor Emeritus of the First Congregational Church of Fall River and a longtime supporter of Southcoast and Charlton Memorial Hospital.

"Southcoast physicians were honored to host Sen. Bradley at our annual meeting. During a tumultuous time in our nation's economy and the ongoing challenges of health care reform, the Senator offered some interesting perspectives as the debate continues over the future of health care in the U.S.," said E.J. McMahon, MD, MBA, FCAP, Chief Medical Officer for Southcoast Hospitals Group. "We are extremely grateful to Rev. Lawrence for making it possible for our physicians to hear from Sen. Bradley."

Bradley's vision for health care reform included national health goals for all hospitals, physicians, insurers and the government, including reducing infant mortality, addressing diseases such as diabetes and having "total transparency" of the system.

"We need total transparency on quality and cost," he said. "We need to be able to look into every hospital to see what is happening on that day, in that month or in that year. [Hospitals and physicians] should be paid for how well you manage a patient's care over the course of an illness — from diagnosis and treatment to rehab to disease management."

With health reform being debated in Congress and in the news media, Bradley said bipartisan support would be essential for achieving reform. That means combining universal coverage with tort reform.

"We need to use conservative means to achieve liberal ends," Bradley said. "Everyone should be covered with a basic benefit. There can always be an option to buy more deluxe coverage. Insurance companies will have to compete to provide the best plans. And we need genuine malpractice reform with medical courts that have experts as judges.

"Universal coverage and malpractice reform — put them together and you get 70 votes."

Like most of society, Bradley noted that health care is increasingly operating in a more globalized world, including treating diseases that jump international boundaries and using telemedicine to read X-rays and other tests.

"What's important to keep in mind is the context in which we are doing reform — globalization," he said. "Diseases are spread globally, just look at SARS and swine flu. We live in a globalized, highly technological world and health care is part of a global supply chain."

As evidence of a broken health care system, Bradley pointed to some "sobering statistics," such as runaway costs, which he said have outpaced inflation by as much as three times, and medical errors that cause 195,000 in-hospital deaths each year. The U.S. also leads the world in obesity, is 12th in life expectancy and 17th in infant mortality.

Some 47 million people in the U.S. currently go without health insurance, which Bradley said is equivalent to all of the combined population of Minnesota, Iowa, Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, North Dakota, Montana, Wyoming and New Mexico. "Hospitals are like every other player in this drama — you can imagine better days with a different system," he said.

With regards to how the estimated $800 million to $1.2 trillion tab is funded, Bradley said $625 billion would come from new taxes but the balance would need to be found in the way health care is delivered and in malpractice reform. Businesses currently receive an annual federal subsidy of $160 billion for health care, which could also go toward paying for reform.