Stanford's Big Health Care Idea

Hidalgo Medical Services is a nonprofit public health clinic that has set out to develop a model for delivering quality, affordable health care to rural communities through a comprehensive approach that addresses multiple patient needs at once.

Victims of violence found in hospitals are more likely to return for emergency care than those with chronic illnesses. As a result, communities like Cleveland, Ohio are trying the approach of treating violence as a public health issue. By employing social workers and peer mentors for the victims while being treated, it is hoped that the cycle of violence can be interrupted and the root cause addressed.

Hospitals in New York improve healthcare quality and reduce medical costs by staying in frequent contact with patients requiring frequent or long-term care. Montefiore's Accountable Care Organization pulls in care providers from across the medical and social spectrum to improve patient health while curbing expenses.

Health insurance sign-ups made available to all inmates at the San Francisco county jail, partnered with guidance from a clinic once they are on the outside, allows them to receive better care upon release, and may help prevent a return to crime and substance abuse.

A government-mandated care insurance program in Japan has gained both recognition and international praise for removing the burden of senior care from family members through the "socialization of elder care." The goal of the program, which has now been in place for two decades, is to help keep "elderly people physically active and less socially isolated," and could provide a model of care for other aging regions.

Maryland's health care system is based on three pillars – all-payer rate setting, a global budget, and total cost of care – that, together, have shown positive results both for the patients and for the state's hospitals. Although evidence of success with regard to health care costs is limited, the model of incentiving investment in community health and preventive care has shown success in reducing readmission rates for hospitals across the state.

Health care in the Netherlands relies heavily on the collaboration, cooperation, and shared responsibility between private markets and government regulations to achieve affordable, consistent, and quality care for patients. Although the system is not without its limitations, this process has helped the country avoid preventable deaths while also guaranting nearly all residents insurance.

Many U.S. medical systems are using medical-legal partnerships to help disadvantaged patients who need help navigating problems with landlords and insurers that interfere with their health.

Rural hospitals across the country often struggle to stay open in states where Medicaid has not been expanded, but a method known as "swing beds" has helped two critical-access hospitals in Georgia to avoid this fate. This method, which allows hospitals to swing beds from "only patients in need of acute care to those who no longer require the emergency department but still needed more treatment before a nursing home," allowed for the hospitals to pay off debt and expand services.

Switzerland is home to the world's lowest avoidable mortality rate and residents of the country live longer lives and are healthier than those who live in the United States. Health policy experts credit the Swiss health care system for playing a significant role. Despite the high cost and the penalty for not carrying insurance, the system is praised as guarateeing access to quality health-care and "unlike the U.S., people rarely go bankrupt from medical bills."