Former U.S. House Speaker Newt Gingrich brought his ideas for healthcare reform to Jefferson City this week, where he advocated broad a transformation into a consumer-focused system.

Gingrich was promoting the findings of a recent paper, “21^st Century Intelligent Health System: An Individual-Centered Approach” by the Center for Health Transformation, an organization he founded.

The healthcare plan begins with empowering individuals to take responsibility over their own health. Gingrich asks for technology and transparency changes along with an overall societal shift that encourages and supports individuals to pursue healthy lifestyles.

With these societal changes in place, Gingrich said healthcare providers could refocus on preventative care and early detection to stop damaging health problems from developing, rather than treating those expensive problems when they become serious.

The final piece of the puzzle is reforming the health funding mechanism to ensure everyone has adequate care. Gingrich said his plan is innovative in that many failed plans in the past have used government spending as the starting point, where as he realizes the societal changes must come first.

“If the federal government tries to solve the financing box, without having gone through the other three, they will create a system which will decay rapidly into Medicaid,” Gingrich said. “There is zero proof that the U.S. government is capable of sustaining a large nationwide health program with the kind of money we’ve dedicated to Medicare. We are not going to do that twice.”

The day-long conference highlighted many ideas for improving health in the United States. Several speakers discussed the need for greater technology acceptance and information sharing among doctors and other health providers. Several speakers also discussed the scope of fraud, abuse and outright stealing happening within the current government-funded system. They said greater technology and transparency was needed to stop this fraud, which is costing huge sums of money each year.

Missouri Chamber President and CEO Daniel P. Mehan participated in a panel discussion during the conference that focused on creating a 21^st Century health system in Missouri. Mehan discussed current legislative proposals to improve health coverage and educate more health providers in Missouri. He also spoke of the need to educate Missourians about topics such as long-term care and other health issues.

“We believe that educating the consumer is absolutely critical,” Mehan said. “The people that purchase healthcare have got to realize that going into the ER is no way to take care of a cold, or that when they do elect to go to a doctor, it’s not simply a $10 co-pay that is exchanged. Simply informing people about how to take control of their healthcare can go a long way toward improving our heath system.”

While there are many challenges, Gingrich and others spoke of health innovations happening in many places around the country. He said as Missouri seeks to change its health system, the state should imitate those who are finding the greatest success, rather than starting over from scratch.

“Let’s see who we can find who is already doing it. Let’s see what we can from them, about how to transfer that success, as opposed to us trying to invent it ourselves,” he said.

For more information about healthcare issues, contact Trey Davis, Missouri Chamber vice president of governmental affairs, at tdavis@mochamber.com or by phone at 573.634.3511.