HHS official says agency will "disrupt" perverse incentives, solicit private-sector input on digital health

An HHS official told attendees at an event produced by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that the agency intends to use the next four years to change the incentives in the American health care system and to accelerate digital modernization.

The official said the current payment and organizational structures create a “bundle of perverse incentives” and that the department’s job over the next four years is “to disrupt that system and to democratize it.” The remarks framed the department’s work as an effort to align economic incentives with better health outcomes.

The official emphasized technology’s role in that effort, asking how the “golden age of information technology” can be translated into usable tools for clinicians and patients. “How do we take this vast amount of data and turn it into something that the doctors and patients can use to make patients better?” the official said, adding that technology should give patients “useful information,” not just “tons of information.”

Addressing readiness, the official said, “Let’s stop asking if the tech and standards are ready and ask if we are. And here at HHS, we are.” The official followed with an appeal to the private sector: “And we are open for business to hear from the private sector in how we transform medicines so it actually serves the American people more effectively.”

The remarks also included a comment tying market principles to the department’s approach: “Freedom and markets are the answers, Thomas, all of our problems.”

The audio file or transcript for the event identifies the production as being from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.