On July 28, I attended a special forum, hosted by the Campaign for Better Care, called Building Better Care: Improving the System for Delivering Health Care to Older Adults and Their Families. It took place at the National Press Club, in Washington, DC, and was also accessible via Webcast. The forum offered an excellent lineup of speakers, including several from the Hartford family. In the keynote address, Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (RI) spoke eloquently and informatively about the new Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and stressed the need to establish benchmarks for cost savings.

Gail Sheehy, author of the new book Passages in Caregiving, spoke about her own caregiving experience and moderated a panel of caregivers and patients. Each person recalled how their opinions and abilities were ignored in their own treatment or a family member’s. Some of the horror stories they told, unfortunately, were not at all surprising to those of us who have worked in hospitals and nursing homes.

Jonathan Rauch, a senior writer for National Journal magazine, moderated the second panel, consisting of health care professionals, on improving health care delivery. David Reuben, MD, described a typical day at the UCLA Center for Health Sciences, where an interdisciplinary team that includes physicians, nurses, and social workers takes a holistic approach to treating patients, involving families, and planning carefully for an appropriate discharge. However, he warned that “Geriatricians are dying on the vine...” because of inadequate reimbursement for the kind of care they provide. Carla Gates, RN, spoke highly of Guided Care as a model for implementing the recommendations in the Institute of Medicine’s 2008 report Retooling for an Aging America: Building the Health Care Workforce. Robyn Golden, MSW, gave an all-too-familiar worst case scenario of patient care and discharge and then provided information on the best case scenario provided by her team at Rush University Medical Center. Ms. Golden reported that although appropriate discharge planning and social work follow up is crucial to improved care, Medicare provides no reimbursement for social service coordination out of hospital.

Peter Lee, director of delivery system reform in the Department of Health and Human Services, gave the wrap-up talk and encouraged everyone to become familiar with the four guiding principles for improving health care delivery recommended by the Campaign for Better Care: care should be comprehensive, well coordinated, and anchored in primary care; be accessible and available to patients; encompass early intervention and active management of chronic illness; and be individualized and based on an assessment of the needs, values, and preferences of the patient, and where appropriate, his or her family caregiver.

Debra Ness, president, National Partnership for Women & Families, delivered the closing remarks and encouraged everyone to join the Campaign for Better Care—and that is exactly what I did, because I was so inspired by the speakers and because this campaign makes sense and is just what we need to ensure that health care delivery will be improved.