In honor of Women’s History Month, Healthcare Finance News has asked some of the women leaders in the nation’s healthcare industry to talk about the role of women in healthcare. Contact HFN associate editor, Stephanie Bouchard, on Twitter @SBouchardHFN if you have suggestions for women that should be included in our series.
Today, we hear from Allyson Schwartz (D-Pa.). Dubbed a “rising star” by Politico, Schwartz has long been an advocate for primary care and children’s healthcare issues. As a state senator in Pennsylvania, she co-sponsored legislation that created the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), a then first-of-its-kind program that became the blueprint for the federal State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). She is the vice-chair of the New Democrat Coalition, a congressional membership organization for which she is also co-chair of the taskforce on healthcare.
Q: What role do women have as decision-makers/leaders in today's healthcare sector?
A: I think women should be everywhere. They certainly are in the healthcare sector as healthcare practitioners, doctors and nurses and health administrators and heads of groups and hospitals as well as in insurance and public policy and sciences and research. They’re everywhere in healthcare. It’s important for us to recognize that.
Q: What do women bring to the table to shape the future of healthcare?
A: I think women should be everywhere when it comes to public policy. We care about the economy, security, we care about all of it and we should be engaged at every level on every issue. In healthcare, surely the role that women outside of elected office can play and do play in terms of healthcare practitioners and scientists and administrators – it’s really very important to bring that expertise that they have beyond the healthcare debate and reach out to the women in the public and private sectors that are doing healthcare work – important healthcare work – and bringing a perspective. Women policy makers such as myself that have a background and experience and expertise in healthcare, we bring both that experience and (our) own personal perspective … Women should be at every table. Women’s needs are a part of the answers and the solutions that we have to some of the compelling issues we have in health financing and in access to healthcare and healthcare coverage and the delivery system as well.
Q: What do you personally believe should be the path forward to better care and lower costs?
A: The work that I’m doing, been doing both before the health reform law and during the health law, moving the delivery system – the healthcare delivery system – to one that is more efficient and higher quality and attentive to costs. Really it’s transforming the health delivery system to one that does move us to greater value for our dollars. We’ve done everything based on health information technology – HIT – having information at your fingertips is very important to practitioners. Still, the focus on primary care and care for those with chronic diseases will save lives and will save dollars. As you may know, I wrote language about improving access to primary care with a focus on patient-centered medical homes and better coordinated care – it’s where I believe we’re going to save money in the right way. It’s about containing the rate and growth in costs in the future and making sure that we get the best value for our dollars and getting people the healthcare they need when they need it, looking at their health status over time, in between visits. It’s very important.