Healthcare Informatics Goes One-on-One with Robert Pearl, MD, at World Health Care Congress

In the opening session of this year’s World Health Care Congress in Washington, DC, on May 1, 2017, Robert Pearl, MD, CEO of The Permanente Medical Group and president and CEO of the Mid-Atlantic Permanente Medical Group, participated in a panel discussion on the elements of the health care system that are not working and how they can be fixed.

An article published by healthcare informatics highlighted Dr. Pearl’s presentation and featured an exclusive interview with him. The author, Rajiv Leventhal, writes, “per Editor-in Chief Mark Hagland’s report, ‘If you integrate care, horizontally among physicians and vertically among the pieces of the continuum of care, all of a sudden, the physicians start to coordinate and collaborate, and you get the results you need. As soon as you capitate, all of a sudden, prevention and early care become more significant, and you can see the care gaps.’”

The interview went on to discuss how Permanente Medicine is using telehealth in new and advanced ways. It also looked at the four pillars of health care transformation, which include full integration (vertically and horizontally), capitated care so everyone has the right incentive, technology-enabled, and physician led. Dr. Pearl also talks about his new book, Mistreated: Why We Think We’re Getting Good Health Care—And Why We’re Usually Wrong.