Never Let Go of the Thread

It’s comfortable to sit back than to stand up. But it’s safer the other way around.

Once we’ve made up our mind to fight, what we realize is that there are many fights to fight. Too many for any single person.

But all of us pursuing the same goal is amplifying.

There is a thread you follow.
It goes among things that change.
But it doesn’t change.
People wonder about what you are pursuing.
You have to explain about the thread.
But it is hard for others to see.
While you hold it you can’t get lost.
Tragedies happen: people get hurt or die;
And you suffer and get old.
Nothing you can do can stop time’s unfolding.
You don’t ever let go of the thread.

William Stafford

It’s incredible how the single thread can bring order to the teeming problems.

Patient Voice

Meticulous journalism can shine light in a way unique from forecasting reports and clinical backgrounders. I have found that nytimes.com can help us understand the voices of the patients we seek to serve. It can’t get easier than this: right from our chairs. (I’m not paid to mention them)

See if you have access to nytimes.com through your employer. If not, your local library should.

The therapeutic areas are there.

Something Happened in the 1980s

When America flipped the script on Capitalism post-WWII, we began to feel its shocks in the 1980s, and now we’re witnessing Capitalism collapsing on itself.

Our health care was along for the ride. Elisabeth Rosenthal did the important work of narrating this in her best-selling book, An American Sickness. If you’re in Market Access, you NEED to read this.

Pharma, Payers, and Providers were asked to show up for service. What we’ve served is a tragedy of commons.

But it isn’t what it is. It’s what we make of it. It’s up to us. We can flip the script.

Watch your thought because that becomes your action. Watch your action because that becomes your habit. Watch your habit because that becomes your character. Watch your character because that becomes your destiny.

Hind vision is 20/20. The Baby Boomers did the important work of showing us that greed shatters. It’s on the Millennials to do the generous work of ushering a new era that actually endures: an era of human dignity. Even if we don’t live another 40 years to witness its effects.

Second-Largest Payer Segment: Patients

What we’re selling is expensive. Period.

Who’s picking up the tab for the health care bills?

#1: Federal government pays for 34%
#2: Households pay for 27%
#3: Private businesses pay for 17%
#4: State and local governments pay for 15%
#5: Others pay for 7%

Turns out that patients, collectively, are bigger payers than commercial payers. And 40% of them are in medical debt.

When I shine a light, both you and I can see better.

Magic Show

Great magicians are good at misdirection. They work their magic while distracting the audience by directing their attention to something else.

Did you know that prescription drug spending only accounts for 9% of the $4.3 trillion US health care spending? Hospital care accounts for 31% and physician/clinical services account for 20%.

Somehow, we’ve come to believe that pharma is responsible for our pricey health care.

Avada kedavra.