Changing of the Guard: How the Impending Generational Transition among Physicians will Change Medicine and Health Services.
The present US health system is “powered by baby boom physicians”. As these physicians gear down or retire outright, they are being replaced by younger physicians with different values, practice goals and communications styles. How will this generational transition affect medical practice, as well as hospital/physician relations? How will policymakers cope with the impending scarcity of practicing physicians as the baby boom itself enrolls in Medicare?

Obama’s Health Reforms: How Will They Affect the Health System.
President Obama won the Presidency in part on a pledge to reform healthcare, and provide coverage to the more than 45 million uninsured people in the United States. How will the present economic crisis constrain him from fulfilling this pledge? Who has he chosen to lead his health reform efforts, and how will they shape his policy choices? What are the new Administration’s options in closing the coverage gap, as well as in containing and managing health spending?

Healthcare and the Economic Crisis .
As the US struggles to recover from the recession which began in 2008, it is clear that the health system has been profoundly affected. Not only have healthcare finances been affected by the debt crisis. Healthcare demand itself has weakened as hard pressed consumers postpone using health services. How will the unfolding economic crisis affect hospitals, physicians, health plans and healthcare technology firms? What strategic adaptations are required to weather this crisis, and anticipate the future shape of the health system?

The Fate of the Baby Boomers. A Twenty-year Look Forward at the Impact of the Baby Boom generation on the health system and society. Will they trigger a boom in the demand for health services, and in doing so, wreck our safety net programs- Medicare and Social Security? What will they need and how will we market to them? What are the plans of baby boomers, and will the U.S. economy survive their retirement?

What Can Hillary Teach Us About Health Reform. Health costs and access to care are rising as economic and political issues? Will health reform dominate the political agenda in 2008 as it did in 1992? How will candidates leverage public discontent with the health system to seek voter support? Will we have national health insurance, or simply modify the current public/private system? How will our northern neighbor Canada cope with the same issues?

Can Hospitals Survive? Hospitals and physicians seem headed in different directions. What are the major tensions in this troubled relationship? How does new and emerging technology affect their collaboration? Will it remove hospitals from the center of the health system? What strategic choices await hospitals as baby boomer care givers retire and the demand for care grows?

The Consumer Revolution in Healthcare. A brief history of consumer-centric health care and its major driving forces. How will consumers leverage their access to knowledge about their own illness and about the capabilities of the health system to assume greater control over their and their family’s health?

The Future of Consumer Directed Health Plans. A New Business Model is emerging in American health insurance. How does it work? How will consumer directed health insurance plans interact with baby boomers and their children to change the health system? Will it damage our health insurance system? What factors limit its growth? How will consumer directed health plans evolve as more Americans enroll?

Digital Medicine: The Future of Information Technology in Healthcare. How will modern information technology alter the role of the major actors in healthcare: consumers, health plans, hospitals, physicians and pharmaceutical firms? How will modern IT transform health services, and improve quality, productivity and health worker morale at the same time? Why has IT adoption been so slow and painful in healthcare?

A Twenty Year Look Forward at Healthcare Technology. The U.S. invests more than $100 billion a year in research and product development in healthcare, almost 70% of the entire world’s health R+D budget! What is in the R+D pipeline, and how will it change the health system? How is the War on Terror and the Defense Department’s Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) changing the face of medical technology? How will genomics, personalized medicine, advanced imaging, preparation for bioterrorism and pandemic flu, regenerative medicine and remote patient monitoring (RPM) interact to reshape healthcare?

NOTE: These topics are all evolving at varying paces, as new knowledge and analysis becomes available. They are modular, and can be mixed and matched to respond to client interests and needs. No two versions of any one topic are the same. Clients are encouraged to frame their own topics and challenge Mr. Goldsmith to address them.