Americans want better healthcare and are waking up to the need to fundamentally transform our current healthcare delivery system. But Americans also want better health – and if we don t act now, our children may be the first generation in more than a century with a shorter expected lifespan than their parents. Far too many people are robbed of the good health that our biomedical advances would otherwise allow. Preventable cardiovascular disease, cancer, arthritis, diabetes, mental health disorders, and disabilities affect more and more people as obesity and other underlying risks increase and our population ages. HIV, hepatitis, sexually transmitted diseases, and tuberculosis pose silent but deadly ongoing health threats, especially for the most vulnerable people in our society. And the confluence of climate change, globalization, and ideological conflict portends new threats from emerging infectious diseases, natural disasters, and terrorism, which our system must be prepared to address. We must do more than improve our ability to safely and cost-effectively treat diseases; we must create a true health system that values health protection – through health promotion, prevention, and preparedness for emergencies – as much or even more than disease care. We need an equitable system that protects the health of people who are fortunate enough to enjoy good health, empowers and motivates those whose lifestyles, environment, or socioeconomic circumstances create heath vulnerabilities so they can reduce their risks, and predicts and pre-empts those with the earliest warnings of disease. A true health system must include homes, schools, worksites, and communities in addition to hospitals and clinics, and must engage the network of sectors and partners that can contribute. Health protection is a family priority, an economic imperative, and a frontline of homeland security. We must act now to change the debate from health care reform to health system invention.

See-B-Perkins’-Presentation-Create-Dangerously-Health-System-Transformation