They are nurses and physicians. They are researchers and executives. They are providers and payers. They are watchdogs and innovators. And they are patients. They are this year's HealthLeaders 20 honorees, selected for their efforts to make a difference in healthcare.
This article appears in the December 2013 issue of HealthLeaders magazine.
For the seventh straight year, our editorial staff has chosen the HealthLeaders 20: people who are making a difference in healthcare. The profiles offer fascinating insights into the varying segments and perspectives of healthcare.
Health system executives such as CEO Douglas Hawthorne of Texas Health Resources and Chairman George Halvorson of Kaiser Permanente seek to transform how hospitals deliver care. Other honorees, such as Nann Worel and Jeffrey Parker, are extending healthcare delivery to people underserved by traditional hospitals. Fred Trotter and David Green work to bring disruptive innovations to healthcare delivery.
Some HealthLeaders 20 honorees, like James Merlino, MD, and Laurent Gueris, focus on the patient experience. Brad Stuart, MD, and Kristine Aznavoorian, RN, are driven by a desire to help patients at critical moments. Still others, such as Harlan Krumholz, MD, and Martin Makary, MD, seek to ensure that healthcare "does no harm."
Transparency is a theme among this year's honorees, but they use the term in quite different ways. Makary, author of Unaccountable: What Hospitals Won't Tell You and How Transparency Can Revolutionize Health Care, crusades against hospital errors. Charles Ornstein successfully pushed for open data on healthcare quality and cost. CEO Steven Sonenreich of Mount Sinai Medical Center in Miami Beach, Fla., wants to shine a light on medical pricing.