Dr. Harold Hank Gardner in Healthspottr's top 50 healthcare leaders

Sep 5 2009

Healthspottr.com names Dr. Harold "Hank Gardner in their top 50 healthcare leaders: leading minds, leading change, leading healthcare."

Healthspottr.com exists to "showcase emerging innovations in healthcare and the new faces who will bring the future" to healthcare.

Dr. Gardner - who combines his experience in medicine with principles from market-economics - brings a unique perspective to healthcare reform. His approach is no-nonsense and non-partisan, posing market solutions for healthcare that align the interests of payers, providers, and patients.

Gardner is the founder of HCMSGroup, where his team of analysts collects health and business information on leading employers across the country. Using their one-of-a-kind database, HCMSGroup devises recommendations and tools proven to deliver improved health and reduced costs.

"Using data, the problems become obvious and therefore solvable. We are spending more money on fewer people (5% drive over 50% of cost); employers and government are spending more on health benefits at the expense of competitive wages or education and other social-welfare services; and we are spending more on technical and hospital services at the expense of quality primary care and prevention."

Gardner and his team test ideas by modeling existing data. Their Medicaid research found that the most expensive 5% of patients take an average of twelve or more prescription medications. This group also juggles over ten doctors and seven government social programs. In response, Gardner in conjunction with the Governor's Office of the State of Wyoming, launched a program focused on supporting the 5% of families in Medicaid with the most critical needs. The program teaches families to take control of their healthcare decisions through education, encouraging healthy lifestyle and prevention, and enabling informed communication with doctors. The result was reduced costs and improvement in health, along with families who are better able to make informed health decisions. (See www.healthyfamiliessucceed.com). Subsequently, Clinical Prevention Information Services, Inc. was created, which offers decision support for the top 5% in companies and health plans.

"The solution has to put people back in control of their health. This requires renewed commitment to primary care and realignment of economic incentives to better encourage prevention and reduce the over-use of highly-specialized and expensive medical technical treatments," says Gardner. "More coverage, without aligning incentives, will only make the cost and quality problems worse."

Gardner and his colleagues author a blog at (www.hhcf.blogspot.com) and he is co-author of a book entitled "Aligning Incentives, Information and Choice."

Source: http://www.Healthspottr.com