Dr Robert Dubois on How NPC's Going Below the Surface Initiative Will Address How Well We Spend on Healthcare

There needs to be a national dialogue on how can we reach a point where our dollars are used wisely, patients get what they need, and we all get the innovation that we want, said Dr Robert Dubois, MD, PhD, chief science officer and executive vice president, National Pharmaceutical Council.

Transcript (slightly modified)

How will Going Below the Surface address the question of how well do we spend when it comes to healthcare? How will this help give an understanding to what’s driving healthcare spending?

We believe there is a national dialogue that needs to be occur, and a national dialogue that’s quite different than the 1 we’ve had in the past. For decades, we’ve had finger pointing exercises: “This is too expensive, this is causing the rise in expenditures, and if we’d only solve this problem, we’d have it resolved.”

The reality is, it’s an extensive and a difficult dialogue. Going Below the Surface initiative is really to do that, and to being to have those really tough questions talked about, looking at the costs, not just of drugs or hospitals, but also of devices and seeing specialists rather than primary care doctors or the lack of focus on social determinants. It’s really having that broad dialogue, and to not just look at the costs and pointing those fingers, but rather looking at the costs and benefits, and trying to very carefully say: “What would be best? How can we reach a point where our dollars are used wisely, patients get what they need, and we all get the innovation that we want.”

The Going Below the Surface initiative is really an opportunity to talk and reach that end of the journey.