Whole person, whole population health—the ability for people and populations to thrive and attain their full, optimized potential for health and well-being—is the ultimate goal of a healthy nation. The United States is facing a crisis in our collective health and well-being: the devastation of the COVID-19 pandemic, compounded by longstanding problems such as the opioid epidemic, the growing burden of chronic disease, deaths of despair, racial and socioeconomic health inequities, and the persistent inefficiency, ineffectiveness, and high cost of the nation’s health and health care system. Given evidence that Americans’ life expectancy is not only less than our peer nations but is also declining, it is clear that investing time, finances, and collective efforts toward creating a healthier and more resilient system is urgently needed.
A new National Academy of Medicine (NAM) special publication, Valuing America’s Health: Aligning Financing to Reward Better Health and Well Being, focuses on the urgent need to reckon with shortfalls in the nation’s health system and examines models that promote whole person, whole population health and the financing structures necessary to support them. The NAM convened 13 national experts with experience across care financing and payment, equity and community engagement, and private capital markets to steward the conduct of a broad conversation on the opportunities, levers, and disruptive forces that could uproot dominant fee-for-service interests and effect a shift toward whole person, whole population health. The resulting special publication identifies existing interventions that promote equitable health and well-being; describes why health cannot be financed, delivered, and sustained by the health sector alone; and outlines both incremental and transformative priority actions for a variety of stakeholders to support our collective health and well-being.
The National Academy of Medicine (NAM), established in 1970 as the Institute of Medicine, is an independent organization of eminent professionals from diverse fields including health and medicine; the natural, social, and behavioral sciences; and beyond. It serves alongside the National Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Engineering as an adviser to the nation and the international community. Through its domestic and global initiatives, the NAM works to address critical issues in health, medicine, and related policy and inspire positive action across sectors. The NAM collaborates closely with its peer academies and other divisions within the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine.
The views presented in this special publication – Valuing America’s Health: Aligning Financing to Reward Better Health and Well Being – are those of the authors and do not represent formal consensus positions of the NAM; the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine; or the authors’ organizations.
Download the special publication and associated resources: https://bit.ly/ValuingAmericasHealth
