All of us have a personal narrative grown from firsthand experience that filters and shapes our understanding and perspective. It can also blind us to growing problems and innovative solutions. Being able to see the whole is job one for understanding how our healthcare system works and for being able to make it work better.

Smart NetworksMichael RohwerMay 9, 2018community, social services, integrated care, managed care, social determinants of health, complex adaptive system, population health, individualized care, affordable care, wicked problems, systems thinking, shared purpose

Social Determinants of Health: A Case Study

The term “social determinants of health” (SDOH) is inescapable in the healthcare industry. But despite the ubiquity of the term, integrating SDOH into front-line medical care remains largely out of reach.

Shared PurposeMichael RohwerFebruary 16, 2018case study, social determinants of health, ShelterCare, wicked problems, integrated care, social services, health outcomes, outcome-based care, networks, self-organized, affordable care, community, smart networks, collaboration

Growing value from Social Determinants of Health

Huge cost and quality improvements are possible by integrating Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) into medical care. Achieving this will be possible when we embrace management methods aligned with the reality of healthcare as a Complex Adaptive System; managing the whole instead of the parts and focusing on individual patients, not populations.

CommunityMichael RohwerSeptember 22, 2017social determinants of health, complex adaptive system, smart networks, integrated care, shared purpose, individualized care, social services, wicked problems, collaboration, networks, self-organized, population health

Creating a market that values health

It is clear there is opportunity to leverage the $2.7 trillion in capital spent on medical care in the United States. Healthcare’s value is in its purpose – better outcomes. Healthcare needs a marketplace capable of ensuring that this purpose remains the primary driver of its business success.

Shared PurposeMichael RohwerSeptember 21, 2017complex adaptive systems, wicked problems, smart networks, affordable care, outcome-based care, community, individualized care, self-organized, social determinants of health

New hope from a better diagnosis

Healthcare has borrowed “best practice” management paradigms from manufacturing and skillfully applied them to most of healthcare’s parts, yet overall, it continues as the largest category of inflation. The mismatch? Healthcare’s real-world is a biologically and socially complex adaptive system and how it works is vastly different than the factory floor. The result? Demoralized front-line practitioners facing constraints and mountainous layers of complicatedness that create cost, not affordable care. A new approach based on systems principles can help heal healthcare’s wicked problem.

Smart NetworksMichael RohwerAugust 23, 2017wicked problems, complex adaptive system, affordable care, systems thinking, self-organized, individualized care

Preparing to integrate the social determinants of health

We know social determinants of health (SDH) have a major effect on health outcomes and cost. Numerous observational studies of spending patterns show large savings, but few have captured data-driven examples to isolate portable methods for success. The reason is that the medicine and social sciences are miles apart in science, approach, and attitude.

CommunityMichael RohwerAugust 22, 2017social determinants of health, population health, collaboration, complex adaptive system, outcome-based care, community, wicked problems, systems thinking, shared purpose

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