How to Improve Healthcare in Four Words

What’s the point of regulation?

There’s so much hubbub about how to improve and fix the healthcare system. There are people writing policy and regulation, doing reviews and investigations and there seems to also be a lot of consulting and planning. My big sister researches and writes about financial regulation in the US of A and has testified in front of the US Senate about regulating stable coins (eh, don’t ask me to explain this. I do healthcare not finance.) We got into a discussion about regulation in general and its actual purpose, musing about its impact on society and industry. Though it’s great to have policy and regulation and all the rules and blah blah – ultimately it relies on the humans to work within these rules and take some responsibility for doing the right thing.

In a utopian world where everyone is uber altruistic and motivations are pure, would there be a need for regulation? If we could simply trust the human next to us not to screw us over, would we need rules to govern our society and our industry?

This brings me to the crux of this article. After 15 years of working in healthcare and compensation I’m able to sum up how we can improve the system in just four words. It’s a bit on the nose and not for those easily offended, but if you found this article you’re likely to not be.

I’m not giving up, I’m just quitting

You know, the bit in the Jerry Maguire movie when he fishes Flipper out of the fish tank and proclaims

“This moment will be the moment of something real, and fun and inspiring in this God forsaken business and we will do it together, who’s coming with me?

Well, in 2014, I had a moment kind of like that. I had become so disillusioned with the industry that I suddenly quit my job. It took a long time to regain my confidence in the industry with a series of small steps and making intentional decisions. Since then, I have spent my time trying to figure out where it all went belly up for me, and try to pin-point the exact moment when I lost my passion for healthcare and rehab.

In hind-sight, leading up to my quitting I had lost faith in the system and the people within it. I was pessimistic and heart-broken about all the shit that had and was happening to me. I had also found that I had surrounded myself by the wrong type of people whilst allowing myself to stray from my intuition and ethics. Writing the book, Compo: A Rehabilitation Consultant’s Journey was cathartic. It was a part of my process of healing. Now with The Intelligent Rebellion, I also get to spread optimism and hope and to celebrate those in our industry who are doing great things.

Having spent all those years trying to figure out where it all went belly up for me and pin-point the exact moment when I lost my passion for healthcare and rehab, what I’ve come to realise is although I quit my job, I wasn't ready to give up on healthcare.

We still have some ways to go

"We live in a cynical world, a cynical world. And we work in a business of tough competitors."

The simple fact that the whistle blower article published by RTW Matters noted that their source, an insurance claims advisor wanted to remain anonymous means we still have ways to go. My own sources tell me that this claims advisor has chosen to remain anonymous due to fear of retaliation from the industry and in the fear of losing their job. What does this say about our industry when one of our own wants to speak up but is fearful of retaliation and losing their job?

Like most in the industry, I am not surprised when I read articles like this one or this one or this one. You don’t need to have a hard hitting, in-depth investigation - just ask anyone who works in the industry. When I read an article about the industry that is “shocking”, I usually call or message a friend and together we let out a collective, “meh.” After reading the RTW Matters article someone asked me if I knew who it might be. I drily responded, “every claims advisor with whom I’ve ever spoken.” To be clear - I do not know the identity of the whistle blower.

The system being broken is the worst kept secret in industry. The idea that there are people in the industry who are failing to do their job, or are being pressured to make decisions based solely on "strategic plans,” or are being asked to take actions which are against their ethics - well, duh. This is why our HR churn-rate is so friggin’ high. Industry people don’t view the above articles as shocking or even news. This is our daily experience of working in a system which spends too much time talking to the same people about the same thing, writing plans and more plans, and then giving out awards to those who have the time and inclination to nominate themselves. We are much, much (much) better than this.

Show Me The Money!

Nothing is perfect, and if we seek perfection we’ll never get there. What we can do is return to what we know to be good and right. Healthcare professionals actually give a shit and want to take care of people.

I often speak of how the business of healthcare is inherently flawed. We make money off sick people and have little to no incentive (from a commercial) perspective to let go of our customers or truly give them what they want. The only real incentive we have is our fundamental intuition to be a good and helpful person. When I started in healthcare, one could draw a direct line from the new grad to the company director. And you could be quite certain that the company director was also a healthcare professional seeing patients and managing cases. Over the years we have seen the commercialisation of our industry, it’s been a bit of a cash-grab, companies now owned by international companies, and an inconspicuous conglomeration of businesses. All that potential conflict of interest…but that’s for another post. *sigh*

The Quan

Where are all the news articles about the great people in industry, the people who have been injured at work and went smoothly through the system, having received all that they needed to recover and return to work? Guaranteed each one of us who work in industry have more stories of good than of bad. Otherwise, what’s the point, right?

Our minds like to stick to negativity and catastrophe. We must change the stories we tell ourselves and tell others. We must be intelligently optimistic about the system, go back and leverage our amazing attributes and remember the reason we got into healthcare. Anyone who works in healthcare is inherently optimistic. For us to look at someone who is physically and/or mentally broken and believe we can help - that takes optimism and a belief in something good.

“This moment will be the moment of something real, and fun and inspiring in this God forsaken business and we will do it together, who’s coming with me?”

Cheers for now, -Rhea.

My opinions are strong and held loosely. Let’s have a conversation. Help spread the message - tell a friend about The Intelligent Rebellion Podcast and Ruminating with Rhea.