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Christina Nesheva

GlaxoSmithKline plc

TEDCRED 50+
AssociateTED Translator

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What is the future of healthcare? How can it become health care vs sickness treatment? What role do technology and innovation play?

Healthcare costs are rising, the population is aging and medical needs are greater than ever. How can patients receive better quality care at an affordable price? How can we leverage technology to provide better and more affordable healthcare around the world?

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Topics: Healthcare e-health innovation medicine
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  • julie hagigeorges

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    Oct 19 2011: Here are my thoughts on improving health care. At the moment insurance companies are driving the clinical decision making in health care and causing the sky rocketing costs. First we need to hand the clinical decsion making back to the clinicians- doctors, nurses and therapists who are the experts, not some business man or administrative assistants who sit at desks and authorizes or denies treatment. Insurance companies need to reimburse for preventative and maintenance practices for the major diagnosis posing the greatest burden on health care- things like heart disease, adult onset diabetes, obesity, tobacco, alcohol and substance abuse. Individuals/patients, not doctors should be held accountable for continued unhealthy practices such as
    smoking and obesity.
    Public policies making it mandatory to BUY health Insurance from a private for-profit business to me is unethical and gives these insurance companies a license to price gauge, deny claims, and provide inadequate coverage as they wish. We should just provide them with masks and guns to rob the American people.
    A single party goverment PAYOR ( that does not mean the government provides the health care ) is the only way to arrive at a solution, as HUNDREDS of other countries have.
    And just another thought...if all our healthcare dollars are ending up in the hands of insurance companies with the salaries of healthcare workers continueing to be so low...THERE WILL NOT BE ANYONE TO TAKE CARE OF YOU..NO DOCTORS, NO NURSES, NO NURSES ASSISTANTS, NO REHAB THERAPISTS...because when us baby boomers retire...there isn't going to be anyone in their right mind who will work in this broken medical system!!!
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      Gregory Klopper

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      Oct 19 2011: Actually, single largest contributor to high cost of health care are costs of clinical trials and regulatory approval process. Inefficient FDA is why costs are high, not nearly as much due to insurance firms.

      • julie hagigeorges

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        Oct 19 2011: i would have to disagree.
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          Gregory Klopper

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          Oct 19 2011: I am really interested in your view and your argument. What is your own experience with insurance and regulatory costs that makes you disagree? I help design clinical trials and see the junction of costs in patient and investigator burden, molecule development, investigator grants, marketing, etc etc etc... Many of these costs arise from regulations which add highly superficial utility to the end-product, but are very costly. Many regulatory authorities require ALL questions answered in submissions, even mundane ones, which can take months to answer at $1-10 MILLION per day in lost pharma revenues due to limited age of patents for that time, which drives drug costs up to compensate. New submission process, new trial models, new data organization, AND NEW REGULATION STRUCTURE would be a huge headway to lower costs, even if you're right about insurance costs, and I'm somehow just not seeing them to be as much of a contributor to the bottom line as Reg.

      • julie hagigeorges

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        Oct 20 2011: I have 30 years experience in healthcare. I am first and foremost a compassionate clinician providing care to patients. I have also worked in discharge planning, utilization review, clinical research including clinical trials, marketing and and teaching. My experience with insurance companies , regulations and regulatory costs is so extensive I could not possibly present here the facts that support my opinion.

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