Alliances are one answer

For three years now, political forces have run every American patient through an aggressive regimen of agony, with countless procedures of misinformation and abundant prescriptions for speculation.

Obamacare will do this and that to you, and nothing good for you, the mantra has gone. By comparison, a daily root canal and a weekly hip replacement would be considered relaxing.

What do we really know about the impact health care reform is going to have on you and your family? What does anybody know?

Know this: Things will change.

They're changing right now.

One primary focus of the Affordable Care Act is that medical providers will be rewarded and penalized depending on how well their patients do. What seems so natural - that customer satisfaction is the cornerstone for remuneration - is in fact revolutionary for America's health care system. And it is going to be the driving force behind change.

In our community, a dramatic shift on the cancer care horizon was previewed recently. Starting this autumn, former competitors for cancer care patients - Kootenai Health, Cancer Care Northwest and Providence Health Care - will become collaborators. Their goal is to provide even better cancer care throughout the region, ideally at costs lower than what patients and insurers are paying now.

This does not mean a monopoly is looming on that same horizon. Northwest Specialty Hospital in Post Falls has entered the cancer-care arena in a substantial way, and other oncologists remain active and independent. Alternatives exist to keep everybody honest.

What it does mean, though, is that three leaders in cancer care are going into this alliance with the objective of providing even better care than was ever available here before. Dauntingly expensive equipment will not need to be replicated needlessly. Specialists will be mobile, so whatever's best for the patient - presumably being treated as close to home as possible - is also best for the provider.

What it also likely means is that other alliances might not be far away. If you took the very best resources for, say, cardiac or respiratory services, and you found ways to increase effectiveness and efficiency at the same time, wouldn't you join forces with former competitors to make that happen?

There may be some very dark days ahead in the health care reform movement, and perhaps when the piper finally is paid those specters will make themselves seen. But there's also plenty of room for optimism. Americans might finally get the medical care they deserve.