According to Deloitte's 2008 survey of healthcare consumers, two out of three consumers want to use their doctor's Web site to get information about health conditions or treatments; and 61% of consumers want tools that would provide personalized recommendations to improve their health. Roy Schoenberg, MD, CEO of American Well Systems, is well versed in healthcare consumers' growing interest in online tools. He invented the company's online health marketplace concept, which debuted in June.

The need to not only provide greater value, but to document that value in a tangible way, is what led to the creation of the Center for Health Value Innovation in January 2007. The not-for-profit center represents industry stakeholders committed to sharing the evidence that value-based designs improve health status and reduce health cost inflation. Its members consist of large- and mid-sized employers, health plans, integrated delivery systems, self-funded unions, municipal and state governments, medical management firms, broker/consultants, pharmacy benefit management companies and vendor organizations. "Health plans are like other businesses, which means they often are segmented into different channels," says Cyndy Nayer, the center's president and executive director and one of the founders.

The relationship between physicians and pharmacy benefit managers continues to change. A goal of Prescription Solutions' Brian Solow, MD, is to foster a collaborative approach to working with physicians, to ultimately deliver better care to patients.

When Jon R. Cohen, MD, was recently appointed managing director of health industries advisory services for PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, he says it was "complex solution solving" that drew him to the firm. Here, he discusses trends on hospital mergers, profitability and hospitals, and his thoughts on the 2008 presidential hopefuls.

According to the 2007 Milken Institute Report, "An Unhealthy America: The Economic Burden of Chronic Disease," prevention, early detection and chronic condition management could save the nation $1 trillion annually by 2023. But in the mind of U.S. Preventive Medicine Founder (USPM), Chairman, CEO and Director Christopher Fey, there is something even more important that could be saved: lives.

When Newt Gingrich recently suggested that in the future, consumer healthcare is going to look more like Travelocity and that consumers are going to go where the best care is and shop for the best price for drugs and services, Jonathan Edelheit, president of the Medical Tourism Assn., couldn't have agreed more.

Many organizations believe a free-market system is the best approach to healthcare, but the free market struggles against lagging public policy. Especially as consumers are demanding greater control, advocates point to other industries in which competition has driven down prices and inspired higher quality.

If you ask David Hyman, Cato Institute adjunct scholar and University of Illinois professor of health law and medicine, what's on the horizon for healthcare, he'll tell you he'd rather share his empirical view of what we've learned from the past instead.

Pat Ford-Roegner, MSW, RN, FAAN, CEO of the American Academy of Nursing (AAN), seems a natural fit for her latest appointment as a member of the new Washington, D.C.-based Partnership to Fight Chronic Disease (PFCD) Advisory Board. The board, led by Richard H. Carmona, MD, MPH, FACS, former U.S. Surgeon General, is comprised of 40 high-profile CEOs and presidents from the public and private sector.