Scott Thompson introduced Peter
Andruszkiewicz, who is President of Kaiser
Permanente of Georgia. He is responsible for the
operations of the state's largest nonprofit health
plan that provides comprehensive health care
services to more than 265,000 members through 17
medical facilities and a network of affiliated
hospitals and physicians in a 28-county service
area.
A
seasoned health care executive, Mr. Andruszkiewicz
joined Kaiser Permanente in 2005 as vice
president, National Accounts. In 2006, he
became senior vice president of Marketing, Sales,
Service and Administration for regions outside
California. In that role, he was responsible for
managing health plan operations and driving
performance improvements in six Kaiser Permanente
regions across the country serving more than 2.3
million members.
Mr. Andruszkiewicz
came to Kaiser Permanente with over twenty years
experience in the health care industry. In
the local community, Mr. Andruszkiewicz serves on
the Executive Committee of the Georgia Children's
Health Alliance and is a member of the Buckhead
Coalition and the Campaign Committee for the
Greater Grady Campaign. He is a graduate of
Springfield College in Massachusetts and serves on
its board of trustees.
Mr.
Andruszkiewicz and his wife, Danielle, live in
Atlanta with one of their four children.
The origins of Kaiser Permanente rest in
the desert of California in the 1930's, where Dr.
Garfield initiated the coverage of industrial
workers with one of the first prepaid health plans
in the nation. For a dime a day, workers
would be covered for all their health needs. From
the very beginning, the focus was upon maintaining
the health of the workers instead of just treating
illness. After World War II, Mr. Kaiser, a
prominent businessman, came alongside Dr. Garfield
and began offering prepaid health care to the
public. Kaiser Permanente was born at that
time with 10,000 members. Today, providing both
health insurance and a health delivery system,
Kaiser Permanente serves over 8.7 million members
with 167,000 employees and 15,000
physicians. 2500 of those employees and some
300 physicians work in the state of Georgia.
According to Mr. Andruszkiewicz, Kaiser Permanente
offers high quality, affordable health care while
promoting health and prevention.
As
those in the health care industry have been
talking about the need for reform for decades, Mr.
Andruszkiewicz believes that this is the time for
meaningful health care reform. The status
quo will only "get us what we have got", which is
a failed system with spiraling, out of control
costs and millions uninsured. By 2020, health care
costs will become 20% of the gross domestic
product. Some 46 million citizens have no
health insurance, half of whom could probably
afford it, but opt out of prepaid system.
200 million are covered by employer and private
plans. 80 million are covered by various
government programs. In the state of
Georgia, twenty percent under the age of sixty
five, or one in five persons, have no health
insurance. According to Mr. Andruszkiewicz,
this is not simply a social, but also an economic
issue. The costs to treat the uninsured
shifts to the insured, as much as $1000 per year
in premiums per insured. Also, the uninsured
often do not receive the health care they need or
they receive it much later than they should, after
their illness has worsened, again increasing
social ills and escalating costs.
Many agree that there is common ground on
the idea that there is an urgent need to reform.
The question is how.
On one end of the
spectrum is the single payer, government sponsored
health care plan, a "Medicare for all". This
direction would unravel our current employer based
system, a significant part of our economy, and
could stifle competition and kill
innovation.
On the other end of the
spectrum is a solely competitive system, driven by
individual responsibility and consumer
needs. Our current system, which covers
two-thirds with health insurance, leans in this
direction, but is flawed and needs reform due to
escalating costs and lack of access.
The
answer, according to Mr. Andruszkiewicz, is likely
a "mixed model" that expands existing government
programs and revitalizes the current market based
system.
Kaiser Permanente believes
that there are three keys to any
reform:
Universal coverage - guarantee
coverage of all, even those with pre-exisiting
conditions, and mandate coverage. All
persons, even currently healthy persons, would be
required to have some basic form of insurance,
much like all automobiles are required to be
covered by insurance. Universal coverage
spreads risk and cost across a broader
population.
Delivery system reform -
The way health care is currently delivered and
paid for is not a coordinated, efficient,
inclusive system. For example, because the
system is fragmented, only ten percent of
diabetics receive the full complement of care they
need. One of the system needs is related to
the improvement of electronic data sharing between
providers.
Prevention and community health
- Kaiser Permanente focuses great effort in this
area and is convinced that we are in need of a
profound cultural shift. True reform of our
health care system will only happen when this
shift occurs, but if it does, coverage for all
will become more affordable.
Mr.
Andruszkiewicz claims that now is the time for
reform so that the quality of health care may
improve and so that health care can become more
accessible and affordable for all. Something
needs to be done, he claims, but there is a lot of
"sausage-making" left to do in Washington, DC.
Library Book: Every Patient Tells a Story:
Medical Mysteries and the Art of Diagnosis, by
Lisa Sanders, MD
