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Michigan State Medical Society Examines State’s Most Pressing Health Care Issues and Explores Possible Solutions in New Report
The Michigan State Medical Society (MSMS) today released The Future of Medicine—a new report aimed at helping Michigan physicians, caregivers and policy makers better understand and address the most critical problems in health care.
“Medicine and the environment in which it’s practiced has just changed so dramatically in recent years,” said Julie Novak, chief executive officer of MSMS. “Between rapidly changing technologies, fresh research, and a renewed focus on racial equity and the social determinants, not to mention the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, there has just been a tremendous amount of transformation in a relatively short amount of time in the world of health care. Given that reality, it felt like the perfect time to look ahead and determine what the future of Medicine in Michigan should be.”
To help determine that future, MSMS invited Public Sector Consultants to conduct interviews with health care leaders, with a focus on physician voices, to gather input on the most pressing issues in health care, how to address those issues, the policies needed to support those changes.
Some of the themes embedded in the research include:
- Strong support for increased use of team-based and integrated care models and value-based and risk-based payment models
- Desire for electronic health record (EHR) improvements
- Recognition of the importance of social determinants of health and health equity to good medicine and a healthy population
- Physician leadership as a requisite for meaningful change
- The need for payer alignment and transparency to reduce administrative burden
- The need for multidisciplinary and cross-sector partnerships to implement meaningful change
The need for greater access, affordability, and quality were also identified as key concerns.
The final report summarizing the process and findings can be viewed at http://MSMS.org/FOM2021