Washington, DC -- The New America Foundation today welcomes the Billings Clinic, Blue Shield of California, Catholic Healthcare West, Denver Health, Merck & Co., Inc., and the Virginia Mason Medical Center as it announces Health CEOs for Health Reform (HC4HR), a diverse coalition of health care leaders who share a unique willingness to transform their business models to create a more sustainable health system. This visionary outlook will allow HC4HR to move past broad policy concepts toward detailed blueprints that reconcile the legislative goals and principles of lawmakers with the operational realities of our health care system.

"HC4HR will focus on helping policymakers identify solutions that will ensure everyone has quality, affordable health coverage within a system that delivers high value for every health care dollar," said Len Nichols, Director of the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation and HC4HR's facilitator. "I could not be more excited about this initiative and am honored to be facilitating the work of such a distinguished group of leaders," Nichols continued.

"It's time for health industry CEOs to step up and say what has to be said-that achieving coverage for all will require each of us to change the way we do business. With regard to health plans, that means giving up the right to pick and choose our customers based on how healthy they are." said Bruce Bodaken, Chairman and CEO of Blue Shield of California.

"It is time for hospitals and physicians to address the reality that healthcare costs too much and that our current ways of financing and delivering healthcare are outdated and not sustainable," said Lloyd Dean, President and CEO of Catholic Healthcare West. "As providers, we must be accountable for the quality and affordability of the care we deliver."

"Merck supports a new national comparative effectiveness research (CER) effort as part of health system delivery reform. We understand that payers, providers, and patients want better evidence to make better coverage and treatment decisions, which will strengthen the uniquely American competitive health care marketplace," said Kenneth Frazier, President of Global Human Health for Merck & Co., Inc. "Merck understands that a new focus on comparative effectiveness will likely change the way Merck does business -- how we bring products to market and how we support the value proposition of those products. We understand this change is needed in our health system; therefore we have decided to support it and prepare for it. We also hope to be able to influence the shape of the change -- to use our experience in clinical trials and outcomes research to support development of a truly practical and informative research endeavor," Frazier continued.

"While our current economic situation concerns us all, it also provides an unprecedented impetus to finally transform our excessively costly and inadequately performing approach to health care. We must change both our payment methods and our delivery of care. These changes will demand visionary and courageous political leadership, willingness of many components of American health care to forgo some of their current profits, and all Americans to accept change if we are to achieve high quality and affordable health care for all," said Dr. Patricia Gabow, CEO of Denver Health.

"The U.S. health care system is fraught with waste and reform can no longer be set aside," said Gary S. Kaplan, MD, Chairman and CEO of Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle. "I'm excited about being a part of an innovative group of health care leaders known for their actions, not just their talk. At Virginia Mason, we've worked hard for nearly a decade to reduce waste and improve care for patients. We're eager to share our insights with government leaders ready to tackle this enormous challenge."

"Significant delivery system reform is urgently needed. This will demand major change for physicians and hospitals who must develop new organizational approaches which better focus on coordinating care over time and across silos. Patient centered care demands this, as does the need for true and effective provider accountability in managing cost and quality. Payment reform, health information technology, administrative simplification, reduction in conflict of interest, and many other tactics will be required, but never has the need for leadership from CEOs and others in the health care field become so essential," said Nicholas Wolter, M.D., CEO of the Billings Clinic.

Principles
Members of HC4HR believe in the following three principles:

1. Health reform is an urgent priority for our nation and should not be postponed.
2. Meaningful health reform entails both quality, affordable health coverage for all and delivery system reform. This will require all stakeholders to move away from business as usual.
3. A more sustainable health system will require all health care stakeholders to offer and accept changes to their business models as part of a catalytic package that will better serve everyone.

Goals and Mission
HC4HR will demonstrate to the policy community and the American people that health industry CEOs and physicians are willing to be proactive leaders in calling for transformative reforms of our health system. These reforms include quality, affordable coverage for all and significant restructuring of our health care delivery system.

HC4HR will not protect outdated business models. Instead, it will work with lawmakers to identify policy solutions that meet the long-term goals of comprehensive health reform in a way that is operational and practical for health care leaders.

HC4HR will capitalize on its relationships with affinity organizations to nurture physician and stakeholder leadership. HC4HRs members will lead through example and encourage like-minded health care visionaries to join in their cause.

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