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My medical director and I had been invited to the Maine Statehouse to meet with some amazing individuals who, through the political process, are striving to improve the health of individuals and communities. We were there to share innovative options to address chronic illness and access, as well as to discuss that age old question "how does one measure quality?"

While in Augusta, we also had the opportunity to sit and speak with a local politician. We discussed our intentions, some of our ideas, outcomes and other data supporting our model. We were having a wonderful time sharing and learning from one another, and then it happened...

This individual said: "If we truly improve the healthcare system [to be more efficient and effective with better outcomes] we will cost Mainers jobs. Perhaps it is better to have a broken system that provides jobs rather than a fixed system that costs people their jobs."

I was definitely caught off guard and did my best to remain open-minded and consider this individual's perspective. Yes, losing a job can be devastating; devastating financially, emotionally, mentally, physically. Losing a job impacts the individual, the family and the community.

And yet, perhaps this well-meaning individual simply does not understand the damage that will be done to those same people if we do not fix the current healthcare system. Maybe this individual doesn't connect the fact that higher healthcare employment and higher healthcare costs do not equate to higher quality of care.

Perhaps this individual has not read Overtreated by Shannon Brownlee and does not realize that "each year, our medical system delivers an enormous amount of care that does nothing to improve our health or lengthen our lives. Between 20 and 30 cents on every healthcare dollar we spend goes towards useless treatments and hospitalizations, towards CT scans we don't need, towards ineffective surgeries--towards care that not only does nothing to improve our health, but that we wouldn't want if we understood how dangerous it can be."

Maybe this individual does not understand the intricacies of healthcare reimbursement and how the traditional healthcare model is still primarily incentivizing and "rewarding" productivity and invasive procedures over health outcomes; and how these perverse incentives place our friends, our families and our communities at risk.

Based on this conversation, only two options were on the table: "Do not fix the current broken healthcare system but continue to create jobs within the broken system (while continuing to place patients at risk and driving up healthcare costs)" OR "Fix the current broken healthcare system and lose jobs."

But is this truly an either/or argument? Aren't there other options? Can't we adapt and do better?

Instead, let's fix the healthcare system, eliminate the financial incentives that put patients at additional risk due to overtreatment, AND create jobs that are aligned with--and within--the fixed system that truly provide value to both the patient and the system.

Let's create an efficient and effective system that provides far more value, helps people get and stay healthy AND positions these same people to be innovative in job creation in other sectors.

Or better yet, let's just have it all ... and do both.