RADFORD -- Don Halliwill, President, New River Valley Medical Center, provided some perspective on the policy and legislative issues involved in today’s health care debate to students and faculty in RU’s College of Business and Economics (COBE) on November 16.

“The country has to decide if health care is an entitlement,” said Halliwill. “And whatever decision the country makes will have stark consequences.”

An 18-year veteran of the health care industry and Carilion, Halliwill spoke to two upper-level business classes and met with the COBE faculty for a series of discussions on health care reform and competition in the health care industry.

“Having a professional with first-hand experience in an industry facing such momentous challenges share his insights with us is a tremendous opportunity to keep the COBE and its students and faculty on the cutting edge,” said COBE Dean Faye Gilbert.

Halliwill cited the key policy and legislative issues involved in the current health care discussion: reducing costs, expanding coverage, improved quality through integration and the challenge of creating value.

“There is little debate about our desire to sustain contemporary medical care, but the way we are paying for medical care and health is through debt and there are questions about the sustainability of that kind of spending,” said Halliwill.

Halliwill said a bright spot in the challenging health care arena is in the opportunities provided by the recent federal initiatives that encourage the sharing of patient data, terming it the “easiest and most logical way that the market can create value and become more efficient.”

Halliwill cited “amazing technological and bioengineering advances that are just right there” as developments that will keep the health care industry changing beyond the current debate.

During his presentations, Halliwill also discussed the challenging transformational process through which Carilion Clinic has gone as it seeks to become a clinic or “multi-specialty group of physicians and other clinicians that owns and operates hospitals” from its previous hospital-focused operating model.

“We are undergoing a significant strategic change,” said Halliwill to Dr. Iain Clelland’s Management 428 class. “It is cool to map it all out on paper and in theory, but it is a challenge to actually do. The key will be the cultural change that has to take place.”