6 things to know about 4sight Health CEO David Johnson and his new book 'Market vs. Medicine'

The cumulative effect of Americans' innate aversion to central planning, emphasis on individualism, desire for instant gratification and strong charitable tradition is a broken national healthcare system. These traits, which underlie "American exceptionalism,” inadvertently result in mediocre healthcare for a significant share of the American people. Yet it is American exceptionalism, which also values venture-backed innovation, efficiency, and customer service, that has the potential to repair it. That's the thesis of David Johnson's new book, Market vs. Medicine: America's Epic Fight for Better, Affordable Healthcare

U.S. healthcare is excessively expensive, asset-heavy and too forgiving of performance variation. The industry over-invests in acute and specialty care while under-investing in prevention, chronic disease management, primary care and behavioral health. At the end of the day, America's "sickcare" system fails to meet the healthcare needs of the American people while exerting a negative drag on the U.S. economy, according to Mr. Johnson.

Mr. Johnson believes it's not enough to diagnose U.S. healthcare's pathologies. It is also necessary to unleash sustaining and disruptive innovation to cure them. In this sense, market-driven reform — more than regulatory change — will transform and improve America's broken healthcare system. Evidence of this "cure" is all around us.

New competitors and business models are emerging to challenge entrenched, inefficient and ineffective business practices. They're relentless. They fight to win customers every day by delivering better, more convenient and more affordable healthcare services. The marketplace will differentiate winners and losers, and winning health companies will adhere to the following mantra, according to Mr. Johnson: Outcomes matter, customers count and value rules.

Mr. Johnson, founder and CEO of 4sight Health, published the book June 15th. He is the author-in-residence at the Health Management Academy and MATTER, the large healthcare incubator in Chicago. Mr. Johnson writes the widely-read weekly "Market Corner Commentaries" and contributes monthly articles to Cain Brothers Comments. Cain Brothers is a boutique healthcare investment bank.

Here are six things to know about Mr. Johnson and his new book.

1. Throughout his 28-year investment banking career, Mr. Johnson managed more than $30 billion in healthcare revenue bonds and led valuable strategic advisory initiatives for his health system clients.

2. He specializes in capital formation, asset-liability management, enterprise risk analytics and new business model development, with expertise in healthcare policy, academic medicine, economics, statistics, behavioral finance, disruptive innovation, organizational change and complexity theory.

3. Mr. Johnson founded 4sight Health, a boutique consultancy, in 2014. 4sight Health specializes in healthcare thought capital, strategic advisory services and venture investing. He writes, speaks and advises on market-driven healthcare reform, high-performing board governance, organizational strategy and capital formation.

4. In Market vs. Medicine: America's Epic Fight for Better, Affordable Healthcare, Mr. Johnson argues the healthcare system is fragmented and financially unsustainable. He posits the U.S. healthcare system delivers mediocre health outcomes and fails to address the root causes of America's chronic disease epidemic.

5. The day has come to shed the status quo. Importantly, Market vs. Medicine narrates how consumer-oriented, outcomes-based competition will make U.S. healthcare better at diagnosing and treating illness, while advancing chronic disease management, behavioral health and health promotion.

6. Mr. Johnson holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in English Literature from Colgate University in Hamilton, N.Y., and a Master's degree in Public Policy from Harvard University in Cambridge, Mass. He was a Peace Corps volunteer in Liberia.

Copyright © 2024 Becker's Healthcare. All Rights Reserved. Privacy Policy. Cookie Policy. Linking and Reprinting Policy.

 

Featured Whitepapers

Featured Webinars