Run, Mitch Run Ver. 2.0

Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels continues to be coy about throwing his hat into the race for President.  Yet, the prediction markets are currently rating the odds of seeking the Republican nod at greater than 50% and, given the current desultory field of official declareds at this point, Mr. Daniels entry would shake things up.

Like Mr. Brooks of the New York Times, the Disease Management Care Blog may end up liking the prospect of a "President" Daniels.  It would need to know more about his positions on health care, but Mr. Daniels already has a head start with the DMCB.  That's because it met the future Governor many many years ago.

Back when Mr. Daniels was involved with pharma, the DMCB and some of its colleagues had a chance to sit down with him and chat about quality, costs and disease management.  He described health care as a "blank white page," of which a small corner could be represented by the traditional health care system.  Much like using a pen to darken that corner, he said we were expending far too much time and effort to completely fill it in.  The real solution to health care cost and quality, he said, was examining new solutions that could be drawn on the rest of the page.  

It's a shrewd image and the DMCB has repeatedly used it (with appropriate attribution) in many of its public presentations.  While persons can read whatever they want into the part about the "rest of the page," Mr. Daniels has grasped that the solutions to the twin challenges of cost and quality lie outside the traditional medical-medical complex. 

Not a bad insight for someone with no real hands-on experience in patient care.  It also stands in contrast to the current "red pill-blue pill" occupant of the White House.  The DMCB is not endorsing Mr. Daniels, but is hoping he enters the race so that we can have some real substantive discussions on the next steps for health reform.