Bringing Health Care into the 21st Century

The United States faces many challenges in terms of health care quality, affordability and access. The nation spends almost twice the percentage of its gross domestic product as many European countries on health care, but has outcomes that rank well below those of other developed nations. However, policy ideas and new technologies are emerging to improve innovation, data sharing, and analytics, thereby boosting cost containment and health care delivery and quality.

On May 9, the Governance Studies program at Brookings hosted a half-day conference focused on government reforms and technology-related solutions aimed at improving the U.S health care system. The third annual A. Alfred Taubman Forum on Public Policy convened leaders from academia, business and government to discuss concrete policy actions to improve performance in this policy area and specific actions to modernize the U.S. health care system for the 21st century.