VIP interview: Paul M. Ellwood, Jr., M.D

Paul Ellwood, Jr., M.D., is president of Health Outcomes Institute, a nonprofit health policy research organization, and President of the Jackson Hole Group in Teton Village, Wyoming, a health care reform policy think tank. He has been called one of the most important figures in American health care in the last half century. Dr. Ellwood has been a leader in introducing competition into the marketplace through health maintenance organizations (HMOs) and preferred provider organizations (PPOs); encouraging the business coalition movement; developing medical staff-hospital joint venture approaches to integrating health delivery, and installing the Outcomes Management System for payors, patients, and providers. He is now concentrating on working with health care leaders of the Jackson Hole Group to devise and implement The 21st Century American Health System, a comprehensive proposal for health care policy reform in the private and public sectors. Their objective is to ensure universal insurance coverage, managed competition, and health outcomes accountability.