May 26, 2023 – An editorial co-authored by Michelle says that instead of focusing solely on medical interventions such as drugs and surgery, health systems should devote resources to addressing the broader social factors that cause health problems. Williams, Dean of the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health.
In a May 24 article published in Time magazine, Williams and co-author Donald Barwick, former administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services and president emeritus of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, wrote that hospitals and He pointed out that the system is spending most of the vast wealth. Even though medical interventions account for up to 20% of health outcomes, other factors that contribute to health, such as social factors such as access to fresh food and clean air, are largely ignored by the pursuit of profit. Masu. “You make money when you bill for cancer treatment,” the co-authors wrote. “It is impossible to use institutional influence to demand sidewalks, parks, and streetlights from poor communities.”
Williams and Barwick are working to address the social drivers of health, such as building affordable housing and starting food pharmacies that provide fresh food to low-income neighborhoods. The example of the healthcare system was highlighted.
“Hospitals and health systems are as aggressive in treating and ultimately preventing diseases caused by poverty, inequality, racism, and loneliness as they are in attacking cancer with advanced drugs and surgeries. “We need to mobilize for this,” the researchers wrote.
Read the Time editorial: America’s health care is collapsing.Large hospitals need to be part of the solution