A Declaration on Healthcare Affordability and Sustainability
Join us - real solutions are within reach.
ENDORSING THIS DECLARATION expresses your commitment to making healthcare more affordable and sustainable, guided by shared principles and in deep collaboration with leaders across many sectors.
Meaningful progress is possible — but only if we work together.
HEALTHCARE AFFORDABILITY AND SUSTAINABILITY ARE INSEPARABLE.
People should be able to obtain the care they need with financial security, supported by a healthcare system capable of reliably delivering high-quality care. We cannot address affordability by shifting costs among patients, providers, employers, insurance plans, and government. Solutions that make healthcare affordable, sustainable, and accessible are only possible when we leverage ideas and tools beyond the status quo.
NO STAKEHOLDER CAN SOLVE THESE CHALLENGES ALONE, BUT TOGETHER WE CAN.
The affordability of U.S. healthcare has reached a breaking point. Pointing fingers won’t solve it. It’s time to end the blame game, which prevents focusing on solutions. Although no single industry or organization can possibly make healthcare more affordable on its own, meaningful progress is possible with bold thinking and a new approach. The Healthcare Financial Management Association brings the expertise of healthcare financial leaders and the ability to convene partners across sectors to turn shared goals into measurable action.
OUR JOURNEY BEGINS WITH SHARED PRINCIPLES.
Working collaboratively with new and diverse partners, we pledge to:
- Move beyond blame, which has long defined the problem unilaterally, thereby delaying or preventing sustainable solutions.
- Facilitate thoughtful dialogue, which is how consensus to make healthcare more affordable and sustainable will be built.
- End cost shifting in the guise of cost reduction, which has distracted stakeholders from pursuing solutions that truly reduce costs.
- Reduce healthcare costs, not healthcare, which is possible when stakeholders consider that financial sustainability and affordability are not competing goals.
WE COMMIT TO MAKING PROGRESS AND ACHIEVING RESULTS.
The Healthcare Financial Management Association created the Vitalic Health initiative, an umbrella of accountability for progress on affordability and sustainability. We pledge to:
- Convene leaders from across healthcare, technology, finance, employers, and other sectors who are willing to challenge assumptions, share data, test solutions and measure results.
- Capture and utilize current, rigorous data to guide smart decisions.
- Pursue innovative, technology-aided approaches from healthcare and other industries that reduce cost and complexity, while safeguarding patients’ access to and quality of care.
- Gauge progress by the measure that matters most: whether healthcare becomes more affordable and accessible for the people it serves.
JOIN US – REAL SOLUTIONS ARE WITHIN REACH.
The Vitalic Health initiative will transform multi-stakeholder dialogue into practical solutions that preserve patients’ access to high-quality care while reducing costs and sustaining health systems. We welcome leaders willing to think and act differently, share perspectives, and shape solutions.
C. Ann Jordan
President and Chief Executive Officer
Healthcare Financial Management Association