Author of "Sickening: How Big Pharma Broke American Health Care and How We Can Repair It" and lecturer
Harvard Medical School
Dr. JOHN ABRAMSON has been on the faculty of Harvard Medical School for twenty years and is a lecturer in the department of health care policy. A former family doctor, he is the author of the acclaimed book Overdosed America: The Broken Promise of American Medicine and has made more than seventy-five appearances on national television shows, including the Today (twice), CBS Evening News, NBC Nightly News, CNN Morning America, CNN Headline News, Megyn Kelly Fox News, and the Dr. Oz Show. He has also appeared several times on NPR, including All Things Considered and On Point. He has written op-ed pieces in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and other major outlets, and his writing has also appeared in The Lancet, the Journal of the American Medical Association, and other prestigious medical publications. He lives in the Boston area.
Help employers understand why health care in general and prescription drugs in particular are so expensive.
Encourage employers to form a coalition that demands independent health technology and cost-effectiveness assessment.
All three: the core problems are the "knowledge" that doctors rely upon to determine optimal care, the way commercial bias of this information inflates costs, and the cultural assumption that medical innovation is the primary path to better health.
Prescription drugs X 3.
No, this would require a coalition of purchasers large enough to influence drug companies and other health care providers.
Trying to inform purchasers about the fundamental disorder in our current system of producing and disseminating medical "knowledge" to health care professionals.
Publicly accessible health technology assessment and cost-effectiveness research, as well as rebalancing the U.S. research agenda to reflect Americans' health needs.
Learn why the marketing of the most prescribed “new and innovative” medications your employees take for chronic conditions is all science fiction. In many cases, employers are paying up to 200X more for drugs that are equally as effective than their predecessors. Learn how pharmaceutical companies are not concerned about preventing medical conditions or the health of your employees, but instead are manipulating data and creating the illusion new drugs are better than older versions with the sole purpose of driving shareholder profits.
View session details
Remember the mission to reach the moon? In 1962, President JFK set forth a vision. He initiated a movement that outlived him! Even in his death, the mission was accomplished seven years after his famous speech. Now we’re on a five-year mission, and it's not about us. This is a mission for you – the individual, the stakeholder, the employer healthcare and benefits professional. Join the mission to reduce costs, reimagine culture, and reinvent care.
Care
Moonshot #3
Provide 40% of healthcare services virtually and through technology by 2025.
.svg){kind=icon}