by Susan Eustis

Mayo clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and Lahey Clinic provide a collaborative healthcare services delivery environment that is the preferred model going forward according to Craig R. Saunders, M.D., Chairman, Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, Barnabas Health System in a private interview with WinterGreen Research this week.  He cited statistics relevant to demonstrating the fact that the US healthcare delivery system is the best in the world, unrivaled by any other care delivery system.  As we work to make the system more inclusive it is important not to destroy what is working well now according to Dr. Saunders.

Those models he cited, Cleveland Clinic, Lahey, and Mayo are where the physicians work collaboratively.  These facilities have been able to produce these best of the best in diagnostic and therapeutic care.   He talked about the necessity of balancing care delivery with resource availability and an adequate flow of income to keep facilities financially sound.

Care decision support represents a way to achieve more efficient and better care delivery.  No one physician or clinician can keep up with all the data coming at them with respect to best practice and medical breakthroughs, even in a particular specialty, so he embraced the idea of natural language based systems that assist and support physicians.  Dr. Saunders is a strong advocate for improving healthcare delivery in a manner that is led by the most thoughtful and intelligent practicing physicians, not leaving healthcare change to politicians.  In this he deserves to be listened to, and we urge him to work with Dr. John Livingstone of the Harvard Medical School who has been a similar advocate nationally for many years.