In this weeks show, we dive into an an area that is ripe for innovation – healthcare. With are currently  seeing one of the most partisan, divided political cycles. Is there really an opportunity to be disruptive by innovating healthcare in Amercia?

My guest, Dr Stephen Klasko, shares his perspective on what it will take to transform and disrupt healthcare. Stephen introduces the areas of alignment across the ecosystem that for the first time, bring all the players together to innovate healthcare in a way that will have meaningful impact.

Topics we discussed include:

* Healthcare is a constant debate and an issue that can feel overwhelming. Is there an approach to innovating healthcare that will work ?

* What is the key to driving change for the future of healthcare?

* Do you think that there is a better way to produce a better doctor?

* Why a science fiction approach to the book, from the perspective of the future?

* In a year where we are seeing one of the most partisan, divided political cycles, do you really believe that it is possible for Democrats and Republicans to come together?

* What can we as the general public/patients do?

About Dr. Stephen Klasko

As the President and CEO of Philadelphia-based Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health, Stephen Klasko, MD, MBA, is bridging the art and science of medicine and healthcare transformation.

He has championed transformation of American health care as university president, dean of two medical colleges, and CEO of three academic health centers. He is author of 2016’s We CAN Fix Healthcare in America, and editor in chief of “Healthcare Transformation.”

Since 2014, Jefferson Health has grown from a three hospital urban academic medical center with annual revenues of $1.8 billion to a major regional academic medical center. Currently an eight-hospital system, resulting from the merger of Jefferson with Abington Health, Jefferson Health will expand to an 11-hospital system with the proposed partnership mergers with Aria Health and Kennedy Health. Jefferson has the largest tele-health network in the region, the NCI-designated Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, and an outpatient footprint that is among the most technologically advanced in the region.

Upon completion of the proposed merger with Philadelphia University — creating a comprehensive university with a forward-thinking education model — Jefferson will have combined annual revenues exceeding $4.8 billion, more than 28,000 employees, 7,800 students, 6,000 physicians/practitioners and 4,000 faculty.

Through a unique four pillar model, academic-clinical-innovation-philanthropy, Jefferson has attracted venture capital and transformational gifts. Under Dr. Klasko’s leadership, Sidney Kimmel donated $110 million to Jefferson on June 18, 2014, the largest gift in the University’s history. Philanthropy and innovation have also resulted in the addition of the Brind-Marcus Center of Integrative Medicine, nationally recognized for its modern medical and integrated therapies.

His new book, We CAN Fix Healthcare in America, posits a future with “twelve disruptors of the demise of the old healthcare.”

Book Overview: We CAN Fix Healthcare – The Future is NOW

Dr. Stephen Klasko proposes an extraordinary, even science fiction, event where a no-blaming conversation about the healthcare system leads to provocative ideas for disruption that...