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“Clear, concise, and compelling, George Halvorson’s latest contribution clarifies why we must change, how we must change, what we must change, and when we must change. The answer is now. Drawing on the learnings from Kaiser Permanente’s transformation to a fully digitally enabled, integrated system of care, George Halvorson shows all of healthcare how to focus on the right goals and improve our performance in reaching those goals. Let’s get on with it!”

— Ian Morrison Futurist; Author of  The Second Curve: Managing the Velocity of Change and Healthcare in the New Millennium

“When running for office, President Obama pledged to expand health insurance coverage while reducing the cost of care by $2500 per year for the average family. Skeptics scoffed that industry insiders would block this goal in defense of their interests. Now George Halvorson, CEO of the nation’s largest health care delivery system, says reducing costs while expanding coverage not only should be done, but can be done, and tells us how. His book highlights the important role and many forms of connectivity in health care: electronic medical records for patients and physicians, registries and care coordination programs for chronic illness, mandates and exchanges for health insurance, the alignment of culture and incentives among the many contributors to the wellbeing of patients.”

— Dr. James Robinson, PhD, MPH Professor of Health Economics, UC Berkeley

“George Halvorson offers a timely and compelling prescription to addressing the chronic ills of our health care system. One doesn’t have to agree with every proposal to appreciate the extraordinary contribution he has made here. Students of health reform would do well to consider this book as an invaluable text for our national public policy debate.”

— Tom Daschle, Former U.S. Senate Majority Leader

“George Halvorson’s timing couldn’t be better and his message couldn’t be more valuable. He documents in clear, vivid prose why the health care system won’t reform itself which all employers and payers need to understand so they don’t miss this pivotal moment to dramatically reform health care. He offers information, evidence and practical solutions for aggressively attacking the “crushing burden of health care costs,” as President Obama described our national challenge. Halvorson also provided ways we can sharply improve quality and safety, as well as save substantial dollars. He reminds us again, through many excellent examples, how essential it is to have electronic health records for effective, appropriate care at a reasonable cost. This book provides a great checklist for healthcare reform for the public and the private sector. I strongly recommend it.”

— Helen Darling President , National Business Group on Health

“Halvorson’s simple, direct writing style is remarkable for its clarity. He takes complex problems and makes them understandable. Halvorson’s experience as leader of one of the world’s largest and most successful implementations of health information technology makes his insights into that subject particularly valuable.”

— Dr. Alain C. Enthoven, PhD Marriner S. Eccles Professor of Public and Private Management, Stanford University

Health care reform is within our reach. According to George Halvorson, CEO of the nation’s largest private health care plan, only by improving the intent, quality, and reach of services will we achieve a health system that is economically feasible into the future.                                                                       

This year, Americans will spend 2.5 trillion for health services that are poorly coordinated, inconsistent, and most typically focused on the belated care of chronic conditions. What we have to show for that expenditure is a nation that continues to become more obese, less healthy, and more depressed.

In Health Care Will Not Reform Itself, Kaiser Permanente CEO George Halvorson proves beyond a doubt that the tragically inconsistent care that currently defines the state of U.S. health services is irresponsible, irrational, but more importantly, fixable. With detail that might shock you, he shows why the nonsystem we now use is failing. Then, applying the same sensible leadership that makes Kaiser the most progressive health care organization in the world, he answers President Obama’s mandate for reform with a profound incentive-based, system-supported, goal-focused, care-improvement plan.

Halvorson draws from respected studies, including his own, and the examples of successful systems across the world to show that while good health care is expensive, it is nowhere near as costly as bad health care. To immediately curb care costs and bring us in line with President Obama’s projected parameters, he recommends that we:

• Take a preventive approach to the chronic conditions that account for the lion’s share of medical costs
• Coordinate patient care through a full commitment to information technology
• Increase the pool of contributors by mandating universal insurance
• Rearrange priorities by making health maintenance profitable
• Convene a national committee to “figure out the right thing” and “make it easy to do”

While this book offers sage advice to policy makers, it is also written to educate the 260 million stakeholders and invite their participation in the debate that is now shaping. What makes this plan so easy to understand and so compelling is that it never strays from a profound truth: that the best health system is one that actually focuses on good health for everyone.

All royalties from the sale of this book go to Oakland Community Voices: Healthcare for the Underserved