Gazing with Soft Eyes: Envisioning a Responsive, Integrative Healthcare System

If there is something that every sector of our global society can agree on, it is the need for a transformed healthcare system. Broad stakeholder constituencies, including consumers, educators, providers, policy makers, executives, payers, and scientists, have all issued calls for sweeping changes that address access, quality, safety, patient/family-centeredness, prevention and community-based intervention, and affordability.1-3 Interestingly, consumers and providers alike long for relationship-centered care that is culturally safe, personalized, and meaningful in a system where the delivery of care is supported by our administrative requirements and financing. Recommendations abound, and the points of agreement seem to recede into the swirl of political and ideological controversy.