When the President last night told Congress and the nation that “now is the season for action,” I allowed myself the luxury of hoping that perhaps this time, for the first time, our national leaders and lawmakers finally are getting it – that health system reform is a journey, not a destination. As Tom Kean and I said in a Washington Times op-ed last week: Many acceptable, bipartisan approaches have already been hammered out and discussed. Our leaders must set aside their pre-conceived notions and work together in the public’s best interest. They must rise above partisanship, reject ideological rigidity, and embrace compromise as a first choice, not as a last resort.

In our democracy it is the President who proposes and the Congress that disposes. It’s not always a polite process. Recently, we’ve seen how easily this all-American practice can degenerate into a political slug fest, when all that counts is who wins and who loses, the good of the country be damned. Meanwhile, critical problems go unsolved, huge numbers of our people continue to suffer needlessly, and our democracy itself is demeaned.

Over more than 60 years, this scenario has repeated whenever the cause of health reform rises to challenge the entrenched status quo. That, however, was then. This is now. Reform is at a new point in its long journey, and finally the terrain is strikingly more suitable to successful passage than ever before.

You are a big reason why. The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s far-flung community of grantees, partners, collaborators, researchers, stakeholders and champions spent the past three decades helping pave the path to this moment and clearing the way forward. Without you, America would not have the promise of reaching closure on this debate..

Here are three reasons why:

· Research – An unceasing and unprecedented torrent of data is defining in real time health care’s performance in every regard. We know what works, what doesn’t and why. We know how to strengthen what is weak, fix what’s broken, and what to do with what doesn’t work at all.

· Information – Now we know what’s been unknown before. The result: Today’s debate over health care is full of facts, not conjecture. False or uninformed claims are objectively and effectively dispelled. The focus has shifted from arguing over what’s wrong –that’s no longer in dispute – to agreeing on what to do about it.

· Answers – You’ve already invented the wheel. Through research, pilot programs, performance measures, modeling, and replicating your successes, the field already has in play what the rest of the country is waiting for – once Washington gets its act together.

The truly hard work will begin when the political drama subsides, meaningful legislation emerges, and the President signs it into law. Even then, we must keep our eyes on the ball. Much of the current struggle is about health insurance reform. Yet to come are all those other issues we’ve worked so hard on together for so long – such as improving the quality and safety of patient care; shifting America from a system of “sick” care to one of prevention and “well” care; better managing chronic illnesses; strengthening nursing’s leadership and care at the bedside; revamping the public health infrastructure.

The President’s speech did what leadership speeches should do – it gives us clear vision, a solid sense of direction, and the will to stay the course. We can do this and do it best if as a nation we sustain a bipartisan will to act, cultivate the support of an informed public, and maintain a collaborative, inclusive climate for agreement and action. After all, our season of action to improve health and health care is 24/7 every day of the year, year after year.

Risa

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey

Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A.
President and CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation