John Lithgow

A Delicate Balance: How Can We Rightsize Treatment Costs?

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• published: 11 Dec 2014
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Please join us for the next installment of our Great Challenges Google+ Live Online Event Series: a conversation focused on “Addressing Healthcare Costs.” Our multi-disciplinary group of experts will be discussing how we can work towards rightsizing the business of healthcare to achieve the delicate balance between treatment innovation, accessibility, and affordability.   Moderated by New York Times Senior Writer Elisabeth Rosenthal, our diverse panel of participants will explore what it takes to innovate in drug development, how we evaluate long-term treatments versus cures, and what new approaches can make novel treatments more accessible to patients while reducing healthcare system costs. It’s a familiar idea: the price of a product is whatever the market will bear - the highest price people are willing to pay becomes the price of the product. But applying that notion to healthcare demands that we address many questions. First, how can we price drugs in a way that makes them accessible to patients, while ensuring that R&D; remains a sound investment for drug developers? And, how can we accurately and consistently evaluate the right approach to treatment based on the cost of a saved life or improved quality of life? Lastly, if patients are not always aware of how much their treatments cost, how can we help them effectively weigh the cost and benefits?   The recent wave of massively expensive specialty drugs and devices has brought this debate once again to the forefront, and our experts will dive deep into this issue and determine what’s at stake. How do we evaluate paying a high price to cure a patient rather than treating them over a lifetime? How does such a high cost impact the healthcare system overall? What can we learn from innovations that decrease costs? Are there cost-reduction strategies that the medical community can adapt as some facets of medical innovation become more expensive?   Join us for a live online event this Thursday, December 11 at noon ET to discuss these issues and more with experts on the topic. Get started today by posting your questions here or tweeting them with #GreatChallenges - we’ll address as many as we can on air.