The healthcare industry for decades has been advocating on its own behalf to enhance affordability, quality of care, and the overall patient experience. Still, if your body of experience resembles anything close to mine, you'll agree there is significant work to be done.
Leslie Margolin
President and CEO,
The Margolin Group
Hometown Meriden, CT
Residence Altadena, CA
Education B.A., Government, Connecticut College; J.D., Hofstra University School of Law, L.L.M., Labor Relations, New York University School of Law. Admitted to practice law in NY and CT
Mentor Arnold E. Buchman, Fmr. Asst. Gen. Counsel, Cigna Corp. "The brightest, most creative, most ethical, most ingenious lawyer I have ever worked with."
Travel destination My favorite trip was a self-designed safari in Kenya and Tanzania with my two brothers and our respective partners/spouses. Trekking in Antarctica was also pretty spectacular
Sports Distance running and cycling. Cycled across the United States in the summer of 2006
Local Restaurants Brunch
at Campanile, dinner at Elements
in Pasadena
Song "Moondance", Van Morrison
For her part, Leslie Margolin, has spent the past 27 years working toward the betterment of health care quality, safety, and affordability. The former Blue Cross president's new venture, The Margolin Group, brings a long-overdue fresh perspective to addressing the critical challenges embedded in the health care system, one community at a time. With Joanna Horsfall, a former Accenture partner and Kaiser executive, and an impressive team of advisors, Margolin has set out to radically improve how care is delivered. She is committed to creating a new system where "everyone wins" – the patient, doctor, hospital, and health insurance company.
But by whose criteria do we define winning? And who exactly is this shadowy entity, "everyone"?
Everyone is you and I – each individual who needs and deserves better health and more affordable care and each person trying to provide that care. Better health and better care can't happen without doctors, nurses, the many others who provide care, hospitals and health insurance companies, but according to Horsfall, in our current fragmented system of care and coverage we can lose sight of the patient's needs. And the focus needs to extend beyond care (seeing the right doctor who prescribes the appropriate treatment) but also the patient experience – how the care is coordinated and communicated, not only between doctor and patient, but also doctor to doctor, doctor to health insurance company and an overall improvement from beginning to end, in what the industry refers to as the care continuum.
And winning? Winning is each person having the necessary support to remain healthy and, when necessary, receive the right care at the right place at the right time, at a more affordable price that delivers a much better outcome – safer, higher quality care at a more affordable price. A more affordable price will come in part from everyone in the system working together to improve health and to eliminate current system inefficiencies, estimated to represent 20 to 40 percent of the overall costs within the U.S. health care system. Winning also means a better, more satisfying experience for everyone in the system doing their best to provide care and coverage.
The innovation behind the model, according to Margolin, is in the approach to developing partnerships amongst doctors, hospitals, and health insurers and to engaging consumers. "We must shift from a contractually driven model to a partnership-driven model," says Margolin, who draws on her experience as an executive with Kaiser Permanente (an organization that has had its own share of success through its fully partnered network of doctors and hospitals).
The Margolin Group's first implementation of what they have coined "Care Innovation Corridors," is being tested in Los Angeles and has generated rave reviews from several partners. Unlike the Kaiser model, Margolin and Horsfall promote an "open" system, wherein participating partners do not need to be singularly owned and managed, avoiding unnecessary investments and restrictions and affording consumers freer choice and a care experience that they can shape.
The distinguishing feature of the 'Care Innovation Corridor' is partner and consumer agreements that align incentives to improve cost, quality, access and the experience of care – a shared view of success for doctors, health insurance companies, and hospitals that starts with how to deliver the best care and experience for the individual.
"Now is the time," Margolin says.