Technology will continue to play an integral role in the evolution of healthcare as consumers increasingly demand more accountability from payers and providers, Humana CEO Bruce Broussard stressed in a keynote address Tuesday morning at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's annual conference in Chicago.
In particular, he said, interoperability is a good springboard to change the tone of industry conversations to ones centered on consumer demand as opposed to system needs.
"I've been in healthcare a long time," Broussard said. "I've been in many boardrooms, and the conversation--the priority--was around driving more volume in healthcare. There was little about, 'How do we improve outcomes and patient and provider experiences?' … We have to change our perspective."
Broussard added that he represents a company that is part of the problem: "We realize that and we have to change."
The healthcare system, Broussard said, wasn't built to deal with chronic care but, rather, episodic care.
"One and done; move onto the next patient," Broussard said. To manage chronic conditions, he said, you need the ability to help patients with their lifestyles, their access to care and their health literacy.
Broussard called value-based reimbursement paired with integration invaluable, adding that, when information flows freely throughout the system, it creates better efficiency and a significantly better consumer experience.
"We're making progress, but our perspective is inhibiting further progress," Broussard said.
Interoperability, he said, can help to ensure more and better data gets where it is needed most at the right time.
"[Interoperability] is the ability to start acting like a team in healthcare as opposed to a track star," Broussard said. "We're actually coming together.
"The problem is in this room," he added. "We don't need another technology or some other thing created; we have to change perspective and be bold leaders in changing healthcare. The customers are looking for us to change. It's not going to change unless this room's conversation changes."