The healthcare system alone can’t be blamed for the crisis in health costs, John Hammergren, chairman, president, and chief executive officer of McKesson Corporation, told the October 2 meeting of the Boston College Chief Executives' Club. “The health of our population bears a great deal of the responsibility,” said Hammergren.
If you actually look at the healthcare systems in this country and compare them to the results other healthcare systems get, we do a pretty good job. If you compare the costs, we don't do such a great job. . . . But I would argue that the healthcare system itself is not necessarily fully to blame.
The best way to make this industry improve is to have that increment of the consumer constantly forcing evolution. . . . And it’s only going to be possible if policy—both company policy and public policy—helps those consumers become informed and impassioned about their own care.
