How can we shift the focus from meeting the needs of the doctors to meeting the needs of patients?

Charles Lockwood, M.D., vice president for Health Sciences Ohio State University, says we've been focused on the needs of providers for too long.

Transcript

Socks. Socks. So I went in to have a medical procedure, which everybody needs to have done every five years, and I was told to take off my socks. And I refused, because they really weren't interfering with the procedure they were planning to do. I engaged in a fairly long conversation with the nurse who was adamant that I take my socks off.

So ultimately I didn't take my socks off, but I think that that little parable is indicative of our healthcare system, which is from a clinical perspective totally unable to meet the needs of the customer. It really is focused on the needs of the doctor. So our locations need to be convenient to us, so we can run to our lab and on and on and on.

So one of the first things we're trying to do at Ohio State is to recraft healthcare delivery in a way that actually makes sense, that would be done in any service industry and that focuses on the patient.