During its publication, the Leifer Report provided a venue for thought-provoking dialogue regarding critical issues within the healthcare industry. It brought together highly divergent views on cutting-edge topics, allowing readers to determine their own point of view (which often fell between the polarities of opinions represented). Among the many contributors to the Leifer Report were President Bill Clinton; Speaker Newt Gingrich; Senators John Kerry and Paul Tsongas; Pulitzer Prize winning author Walt Bogdanich; Humana co-founder, David Jones; integrative medicine gurus Deepak Chopra, Andrew Weil, and Herbert Benson; and a host of healthcare executives.
Though a number of years have passed since its last publication, many statements made in the editor’s remarks column of the Leifer Report hold as true today:
Spring 1990
“Rural facilities are becoming parts of regional hospital systems as a means of survival. The reasons for seeking system affiliation have also been well documented and include access to capital, economies of scale in purchasing and other volume-discounted activities , and managerial expertise.”
Fall 1991
“One question that emerges from the healthcare reform debate is whether hospitals should devote resources to marketing in an era when healthcare costs are rising at alarming rates and millions of Americans are at risk of going without essential health services.”
Spring 1992
“Today’s healthcare delivery crisis is not new. The problems of runaway costs and access inequity are longstanding.”
“There is no one system for collecting and compiling normative data on healthcare utilization, cost or outcome. How can we reform wisely when we lack the data to support our strategies?”
“In the 15th century, conventional wisdom held that the world was flat. Theories to the contrary were called heresy. Now, as we are approaching the 21st century, conventional wisdom offers, at best, a limited vision for innovative health care reform. Perhaps we need some modern-day heretics.”
Fall 1992
“This issue of the Leifer Report focuses on one of the most elusive and yet most critical concepts in the healthcare reform movement – the quantification of value.”
“Though there is no consensus on how to define value, most Americans agree that the current systems are failing to deliver value.”
Spring 1993
“Providers must begin to think in terms of value – a concept heretofore alien to the health care industry.”
“[Patients] must assume a stewardship responsibility for their wellness, as well as for their consumption of services during illness. That means they must become better educated about many health-related issues. It also means they must learn the importance of avoiding behaviors that put them at risk.”
Spring 1996
“We hope to open minds with articles by Deepak Chopra, M.D., …Andrew Weil, M.D.,…Herbert Benson, M.D., and Richard Friedman, Ph.D., who advocate for self care.”
“Metamorphosis is a slow and arduous process requiring tremendous heat and pressure. Over time, it can transform a lowly piece of amorphous carbon into the tightly defined crystalline structure known as diamond. Given enough heat and pressure, it can even transform an entire industry.”
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