Georgetown University Medical Center

Healthcare Dialogue

Section: Healthcare Dialogue

OurHealthCareFuture

Meaningful, sustainable healthcare reform involves major social change. A variety of approaches is necessary to effect change of this magnitude. The Dialogue is an attempt to extend, deepen and change the nature of the conversation about healthcare reform.

The Center for Clinical Bioethics collaborated in designing and piloting a promising new approach to building community consensus and momentum for a better healthcare future.

OurHealthcareFuture.org offers all that is needed to bring together a cross-section of your community for a dialogue.

During the day, participants talk, listen and learn from one another about what they see as priorities for healthcare. People also explore how these priorities apply to the future of U.S. healthcare and some things they can do to build a better healthcare future.

These dialogues are intended for the general public. They explore the values that should characterize our healthcare future. The mode of engagement is dialogue, not debate. The emphasis is on genuine listening and looking for the wisdom in the group.

Explore www.ourhealthcarefuture.org to learn more about how to be part of this important effort.

  • In the Dialogue Library you can view a 9 minute video that explains the thinking behind The Dialogue and see actual footage from some dialogues
  • You can download the materials you need to host a dialogue
  • Take the values survey and view the results of the survey thus far.
  • Contact the design team to let us know what you think about the site and The Dialogue!

Design Team

Ann Neale is on the faculty of the Center for Clinical Bioethics, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC. She has worked in health care for most of her professional life, including as a vice president in two healthcare systems and as a staff person for a U.S. senator.

Michael Culliton is the director of the Center for Healthcare Reform for the St. Joseph Health System in Orange, California. For more than 20 years he has worked to help created dialogue-based workshops that help people consider and take action around important issues like health care.

Jack Glaser is senior vice president for Theology & Ethics of the St. Joseph Health System in Orange, CA. He has worked as a senior exectuive in healthcare systems, as a consultant to healthcare executives and as a teacher, philosopher, theologian and psychotherapist.

Irene Jillson is on the faculty of the School of Nursing and Health Studies, Georgetown University Medical Center, Washington DC. She has over 30 years experience in health and social policy work in the U.S. and other countries. An important part of her work has incuded helping communities to plan and evaluate health services.

Allegany Franciscan Ministries, Inc., a foundation of the Allegany Franciscan Sisters, is a leader in helping communities to meet the everyday healthcare needs of people while inviting communities to look at big questions like how to improve our health care future. Through their generous funding and a working partnership with Allegany staff, the design team created and pilot-tested the dialogue.