Everyone wants a health system that produces better outcomes at lower cost, offers more person-centered care, and focuses on health rather than health care. After decades of trying, however, American health care, as well as health care in other countries, still seems distant from that vision. Better models of care, whether integrated delivery systems, hospitals, or clinics, do surface, but, so far, they have largely eluded systematic replication.
Instead, the success of these paragons stems from hard-to-copy factors, like local culture or exceptional leadership. To make rapid progress toward a higher value health system, health care needs organizational innovations—new models—that are less dependent on culture and leadership and can become the basis of readily replicable, sustainable, locally competitive health systems.
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