Medical innovation key to health care value proposition

December 6, 2011

Gov. Michael O. Leavitt assembled a diverse group of Utah’s health care leaders at the Leavitt Partners’ corporate headquarters today to discuss medical innovation and the new health care value proposition. Leavitt said health care in the United States has entered the era of the value proposition and that it is time to make value the focus of health care decisions.

“Value is the confluence of cost and quality,” said Leavitt. “It’s time to make value the central focus of every health care decision.”

Leavitt, who is the co-chair of the national Council for American Medical Innovation, along with former Majority Leader Richard Gephardt, said that with Washington gridlocked, investment in medical advances brings real value to our health care system, improves worker productivity, and spurs economic prosperity.”

Leavitt, who also served as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services under President George Bush said,“To improve care, we must commit to continued and sustained investments in new medical innovations because the medical advances these investments generate will pay dividends to the American people in the form of deficit reduction, improved health and job creation.”

Utah’s leaders discussed the importance of all participants in health care—patients, their families, doctors, government and investors – to focus on the value proposition of new and future medical innovations.  Leavitt said, “Better understanding and valuing medical progress needs to be a key factor in future health care decisions.”

Leavitt addressed this group in his home state of Utah, but has met other health care leaders around the nation to ensure Congress is hearing “loud and clear” the need to create a policy environment that fosters innovation and improves America’s completeness.

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