Congressman Seth Moulton was an inspiring candidate: a Marine and Harvard Business School grad with strong leadership skills who wanted to serve the country in Washington. Despite the cynicism I and many others have for politicians, this guy seemed like the real deal.
So far he appears to be living up to his promise.
I was very impressed by an article in today’s Boston Globe (In effort to fix woes in VA care, Moulton taps own experience) about how Seth is working to reform the VA healthcare system. He went for care at the VA without revealing his Congressional status, and he solicited input from others in the waiting room and from his own military buddies. He noted that many of the staff and clinicians are doing a good job, and tried to identify what was holding them back. He’s attempting to translate his insights into pragmatic reforms that can help address root causes of the problems.
All of this is a welcome break from the usual bloviating we hear on Capitol Hill when it comes to the VA and other topics. I hope Seth is successful with this approach and that it is contagious among his colleagues!
I do want to point out that the VA often gets a bad rap. Yes, there are all sorts of problems, many of which are inexcusable. When we read articles about the VA the implicit assumption is that things are much better in the private sector. But those of us who work in the system know the VA has no monopoly on inexcusable lapses in quality, safety and customer service.
Photo: Flickr user Seth Moulton
David E. Williams is a healthcare business consultant and president of Health Business Group.
A Deep-dive Into Specialty Pharma
A specialty drug is a class of prescription medications used to treat complex, chronic or rare medical conditions. Although this classification was originally intended to define the treatment of rare, also termed “orphan” diseases, affecting fewer than 200,000 people in the US, more recently, specialty drugs have emerged as the cornerstone of treatment for chronic and complex diseases such as cancer, autoimmune conditions, diabetes, hepatitis C, and HIV/AIDS.
