Dale Block, M.D.

Healthcare Reform

The Obama Administration is attempting to fix the U.S. Healthcare system. Dr. Dale Block suggests for real change that we implement healthcare stewardship, which means making change at every level. Dr. Block offers his 8-point plan.

Dale J. Block, MD, is a celebrated physician and health management expert, who has received both the Golden Stethoscope Award for Clinical Quality and the Maverick Award for Innovation. In his two-plus decades of experience he has seen first-hand how the healthcare system has failed the people it’s supposed to serve. “The bureaucracy we call the U.S. healthcare system is about politics and profitably, not patient care,” he says. As the Obama administration grapples with how to repair the system, Block argues that unless their efforts are based on an understanding of what he calls “healthcare stewardship” real reform is unlikely. “Healthcare stewardship means using our limited healthcare resources in a manner that is clinically, ethically, politically, environmentally, and socially responsible. If the new administration is to initiate long-term change it has to understand how to do this.” It starts with putting the patient first. “Take care of people and the financials will take care of themselves,” says Block.

Healthcare Stewardship: A Guide To Improving the Health of All Americans

Dr. Derrick DeSilva

2009-06-04