Perspective - Health care reform: Why we cannot afford to fail

Under the auspices of the Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center, the authors of this Perspective participated in a two-year consensus-building process among more than 2,000 health care stakeholders. The result was agreement on reforming U.S. health care along four key principles: improving health care quality and value; undertaking payment reform; vastly improving coordination of care; and providing insurance coverage for all. The authors expand on these ideas and make additional recommendations for how health care financing and delivery should be transformed as soon as possible.