Health Care Nation The Future Is Calling and It's Better Than You Think

Section I: Awareness

1. 100 Billion and Counting

2. America’s Largest Escape Room

3. Changing Health Care Starts with Changing Our Minds

4. America’s Health Paradox

5. If Health Care Was a Sport, We Wouldn’t Make the Playoffs

6. Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of a Low‑Deductible Health Plan

7. Economic Whack‑a‑Mole—The Impact of Cost‑Shifting

8. The Pervasive and Perversive Nature of a Break‑Fix Model

9. The Price of Self‑Inflicted Disease

10. Health Is More than Medicine

11. What Would Martin Think?

12. The Pandemic Showed Us That Change Is Possible

13. The Great Health Awakening

14. Achieving Health Dividends—The Economics of Health and Well‑Being

15. Raising the Bar for Health Outcomes—The Happiness Factor

16. The Butterfly Effect Takes Flight

17. In Honor of Medical Misfits—The Art and Science of Thinking Differently

18. Let’s Stop Wounding Our Heroes

19. Healthy People Require a Healthy Planet

20. Sustainable Health Care

21. Welcome to the Intelligent Health Revolution

22. Welcome to the Planet of the Apps

23. Intelligent Aging Is Health Care’s Moonshot

24. Changing Our Health Investment Strategy

25. From Aspiration to Action

26. The Future Is Not What It Used to Be

Biography

Tom Lawry is a leading transformation advisor to health and medical leaders around the world, a top keynote speaker, and the best‑selling author of Hacking Healthcare – How AI and the Intelligent Health Revolution Will Reboot an Ailing System.

He’s the Managing Director of Second Century Tech and a former Microsoft executive who served as National Director for AI for Health and Life Sciences, Director of Worldwide Health, and Director of Organizational Performance for the company’s first health incubator.

Prior to Microsoft, Tom was a Senior Director at GE Healthcare, the founder of two venture‑backed health care software companies, a health system executive, and a hospital board member.

Tom’s work and views have been featured in Forbes, CEO Magazine, Harvard Business Review, CNET, Inside Precision Medicine, and numerous webcasts and podcasts.

In a Harris Poll, Tom was named one of the most recognized leaders driving change and engagement in health care today. He has also been named one of the Top 20 ʼ24 Voices to Follow in AI and Digital by Medika.

"Tom Lawry does more than write about fixing health care—he rallies us to become the ‘Rosa Parks of the system’ to spark a movement of meaningful change. In this thought‑provoking book, he offers a much‑welcomed departure from the tireless blame game and fruitless top‑down prescriptions that dominate health care reform discussions. Lawry hands the power back to us—patients, clinicians, business leaders, and advocates—showing how small, deliberate action can add up to transformative change."

Gil Bashe, Chair Global Health and Purpose, FINN Partners, Editor‑in‑Chief, Medika Life

"Physicians and patients alike find themselves at the intersection of innovation and inequity in America’s complex health care landscape. Health Care Nation serves as a timely and empowering call to action for those determined to restore purpose and integrity to a fractured system. Offering fresh perspectives and a focus on impactful solutions, this book inspires readers to take the lead in shaping a more equitable and effective future for health care."

Michael Suk, MD, JD, MPH, MBA, FACS, FACHE, Chair, American Medical Association Board of Trustees

"Growing up in the Black Belt of Alabama, I often heard my Aunt Molly say, ‘If you have your health, you have everything.’ This personal reflection underscores this book’s profound assertion that health is foundational to a thriving society.

Health Care Nation delivers an urgent and compelling message about the state of health and healthcare in the United States. It boldly confronts the complex history of American healthcare and unveils the systemic design flaws that lead to its current inefficiencies, inequalities, and inequities.

This book is more than a call to action. It is a demand for transformative change."

Ronald Wyatt, MD MHA, Senior Fellow IHI, Founder and CEO, Achieving Health Equity LLC

"The future is already here, but it is unevenly distributed. Tom Lawry is a modern‑day health care soothsayer who sees this uneven distribution and has a clear‑eyed vision to fix what is broken from the ground up. His plans are spot on, and if we grasp them now, we can make the changes we all seek. The question remains, however, are we listening closely to what he has to say? I know I am!"

David B. Nash, MD, MBA, Founding Dean Emeritus, Jefferson College of Population Health

"In his latest book, Health Care Nation, Tom Lawry envisions a future that prioritizes health, well‑being, and equity for all citizens. This thought‑provoking and insightful read challenges each of us to rethink the current system and take meaningful actions toward a more inclusive, efficient, and innovative health care future.

As a nurse, I have recognized the brokenness of US healthcare and have always wanted to make it better. Health Care Nation is a manifesto for change that emphasizes the power of individual actions and innovative thinking in driving systemic change."

Kathleen McGrow, DNP, MS, RN, PMP, FHIMSS, FAAN, Global Chief Nursing Innovation Officer, Microsoft

"If you’re motivated to change the healthcare system, then Tom Lawry’s Health Care Nation equips you to do just that. The knowledge gained from Health Care Nation informs thinking and enables effective collaboration with others to bring about the change our nation needs. Health Care Nation is a must read for those who want to engage and looking for ways to begin or accelerate their work with others."

Ann Mond Johnson, CEO, American Telemedicine Association