VIable

The marvelous thing about transformation in the healthcare world is that it is happening virtually every day right
in front of our eyes. In every sector of care, new innovations are being developed and implemented that are
delivering greater quality, improved cost-efficiency, safer care, and a population better equipped to prevent and
defeat disease. Anyone who believes American healthcare is at all static simply is not paying attention.
Yet, progress can be bolder, faster, better coordinated and more comprehensive. In 2016, the Healthcare Leadership
Council (HLC) released a report – based upon the collaborative work of leading healthcare companies
and organizations combined with patient advocacy groups – called VIable Solutions: Six Steps to Transform
Healthcare Now. The document is a call to action for policymakers to undertake eminently achievable, yet highly
game-changing, actions that will unleash the power of innovation and bring greater value to our healthcare system.
These reforms include accelerating the movement toward health information interoperability, enabling the Food
and Drug Administration to move lifesaving drugs and devices more rapidly to patients, making greater use of
comprehensive care planning, and modernizing federal laws to encourage partnerships to improve patient care.
We know these ideas can work to transform our healthcare system for the better because we’ve already seen
evidence-supported examples that shine a bright light on their potential. We have asked HLC members, companies
from every sector of healthcare, to describe their initiatives that demonstrate collaborative efforts to promote
value-based and patient-centered care, programs that are advancing quality and operational efficiency, and
innovative measures that are breaking new ground in healthcare payment, delivery and treatment.
The goal in presenting these success stories is not only to illustrate how healthcare is indeed changing both
profoundly and rapidly but, more importantly, to make it clear what can be gained if public policies are implemented
that will allow these stellar examples to be extrapolated into nationally-accepted standards and practices.
It is quite easy to make the case that we are nearing a new golden era in American healthcare. The contents of
this publication provide compelling support for that belief. What we need now to bring that future into vivid reality
is thoughtful, visionary decisionmaking by policy leaders to link all patients and healthcare consumers with the
ceaseless flow of innovations that can change their lives for the better.
Mary R. Grealy
President
Healthcare Leadership Council