The Potential for Advancement in the Complex World of Healthcare Policy
By Ashley Abraham, Kellogg School of Management ‘22
Innovation, a buzz word in the world of business, is much less of a thrill in the world of healthcare policy. Why? Being at the forefront of change is great when you have unlimited resources and the consistent support to attempt new things and reiterate; however, in my opinion, working in healthcare policy does not afford you such pleasures. The policy world is not very welcoming to the innovator.
The truth is the political world is all about stakeholder management, and many stakeholders are not very forgiving. Mix this with the reality that healthcare innovation can be risky, and one can see how the intersection of healthcare and policy often lacks notable progress and innovation. As I describe the reality of the policymaking process through my lens, I believe that the current health pandemic has shocked the system, allowing policymakers to become more receptive to innovative ideas.
During my time as a congressional staffer on Capitol Hill, I witnessed the barriers to innovation in healthcare policy. If you have taken an introductory political science course, you likely know that policymaking is a complex process. Members and staffers are tasked with developing robust legislation although they typically are not experts on the topic. While writing two bills during my year on the Hill, I consistently worked with experts to devise new, often innovative, ideas.
But perhaps more importantly, I learned to write legislation in a way that was agreeable to the multitude of stakeholders, often tampering innovative concepts. Buy-in from Congressional Members is key to ensuring a bill ever moves. Various caucuses, or groups of Members who band together to pursue common legislative objectives, will have their opinions and edits to the legislation. For example, the Bipartisan Congressional What Works Caucus may ask, understandably, to provide only evidence-based solutions, limiting the potential add-ons to any proposed legislation. Then, lobbyists may highlight a section of the bill that, if interpreted differently, could have seemingly detrimental effects. These are all important parts of the legislative process to ensure that bills, especially in the healthcare space, are thoughtfully crafted. It is important to note, however, that in this setting, innovative ideas are the first to come under scrutiny.
Over time, innovative healthcare policy fails to move along in the legislative process unless it is deemed “perfect” by everyone.
And if a bill becomes law, healthcare is a highly regulated industry where we take a stance of being more safe than sorry, often deciding to forgo innovation in the name of risk mitigation.
But now, the coronavirus pandemic, unlike anything in recent history, has spread globally, leaving the world shaken by the lack of preparedness we had in our systems. This has instituted a new sense of urgency and the need to bring forth bold policy in the healthcare arena.
Public attention has turned to our healthcare system, its operations, and those who keep it afloat. Dr. Fauci has become a household name despite his extensive reign in the world of federal healthcare advising, and more innovators are entering healthcare seeking to address disparities and improve patient outcomes. Many of these innovators are landing in the world of policy and business.
We learned about the coronavirus mitigation successes in countries like Rwanda. NPR noted that much of Rwanda’s success was due to their innovative enactment of policies such as: early lockdown response, the mobilization of community health workers (an area of policy I worked on while on the Hill with less-than-desired-breakthroughs), and the use of robots and other technologies to test and monitor citizens. The mitigation successes of other countries shed light on the inefficiencies in the U.S.
Barriers to policy enactment and change made it nearly impossible for the U.S. to react as quickly as Rwanda. As a result, we've seen notable differences in outcomes, which I believe could be persuasive enough to encourage innovation in the policy sector.
Moving into the hopeful pandemic recovery phase, there is a growing need for policy makers to focus on addressing pervasive societal concerns through innovation. I am optimistic that bold legislation will now be considered and discussed in terms of its potential to impact individuals and communities in a visionary way.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ashley Abraham is a first year 2Y MBA student at Kellogg. Prior to Kellogg she worked in the public and social sectors as a teacher, non-profit manager, and congressional staffer. Ashley is passionate about addressing disparities in the fields of education and health. At Kellogg, she is working on a start-up concept to create a healthcare platform to improve communication between veterans and the medical professionals they work with.