Healthcare is one of D.C.’s largest industries, yet its impact is sometimes unnoticed by much of the region.

To help the D.C. region understand the impact as well as the makeup of the healthcare industry, What’s Working in Washington talked to Don Blanchon, executive director of Whitman-Walker Health.

“We’re on the frontlines, as a primary care and neighborhood health center,” said Blanchon.

Whitman-Walker first rose to prominence in the early 1980s as one of the first responders to the AIDS epidemic in the Washington region.

“We now serve about 18,000 patients, we have just under 300 employees, and we operate four sites,” Blanchon said. “It’s a real joy, and it absolutely is on the front lines of the Affordable Care Act.”

The system isn’t without its faults. “I think the single biggest problem is the payment system… there’s just not enough transparency and understanding about what price looks like,” said Blanchon.

“Somebody can have an episode in an emergency room or have a diagnostic test done, and the test can be different, a week or two weeks later, pricing-wise. It just doesn’t make sense to people.” Without transparency, the fluctuation of prices, as well as the prices themselves, come off as confusing, frustrating, and unjustified. At many hospitals, it’s impossible to even ask for the general price of a procedure such as childbirth.

The market for healthcare is also shifting due to the aging of baby boomers. “The care system is going to have to adapt to the fact that there’s going to be more home- and community-based services, particularly for those baby boomers who want to be in-home,” said Blanchon.

“And on the preventive side, younger people are going to need to get into the insurance pool, and I think that was one of the things that happened with the Affordable Care Act,” he said. With more young, healthy people paying for health insurance, the older and less healthy will have better coverage at a lower cost.

“The care system has to change. Places like Whitman-Walker have to continue to adapt, and to lead, and to meet patients where they are,” he said.

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