Patients are demanding more involvement in their health care decisions, and more transparency from providers and insurance companies. But a shift to truly consumer-driven health care can’t rely solely on the the medical care system, according to Sara Singer, adjunct professor in health care management and policy at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
In an article in the Autumn 2019 issue of Harvard Medicine magazine, Singer said, “We need to integrate medicine with social services and other systems and sectors, including the corporate sector.”
A lead researcher in the School’s Culture of Health Program, an initiative that helps businesses foster health in their employees, customers, and communities, Singer said that employee wellness programs can be ineffective if they focus on perks designed to keep people producing at work, such as free food. “That’s not going to increase good health,” she said.
Read the Harvard Medicine article: May I Take Your Order?