Arnold Milstein, a Columbus, Ohio native, first became interested in healthcare performance issues after obtaining his board certification in psychiatry. Today he is the Medical Director of the Pacific Business Group on Health and the Chief Physician at Mercer Health & Benefits. His work and publications focus on healthcare purchasing strategy, the psychology of clinical performance improvement, and clinical innovations that reduce spending and improve quality. He has been described by the New England Journal of Medicine as a “pioneer” in efforts to advance the quality of care. Read more about him below.
Q. What music have you listened to today?
A. I am very sorry to say that I woke up and attended a meeting at a hotel at 8:30, and came from that meeting to this building. I wish I had heard music sometime today, but I did not.
Q. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?
A. I was interested in being a professional baseball player…my hometown team at that point was a team that no longer exists, the Milwaukee Braves.
Q. What is your favorite cocktail?
A. I drink wine almost exclusively.
Q. What is your greatest extravagance?
A. Landscaping. I love to landscape and spend more money on plants and planting and planters than is probably prudent.
Q. What is your favorite thing about Los Angeles?
A. The weather, the relaxed lifestyle, and the relatively fluid social hierarchy.
Q. What was the last thing that inspired you?
A. A recent article written by an American surgeon, Atul Gawande, who just did an absolutely breathtaking job of helping to articulate to average Americans how it comes to be that excessive healthcare services can not only be wasteful of health insurance dollars, but actually harmful to people’s health.
Q. What is your fondest childhood memory?
A. Though I was never a terrific athlete, there was one moment in my high school football career when I caught a touchdown.
Q. What is the best advice you have received?
A. I think the advice that when it comes to very very important life decisions, after one has taken a reasonable amount of time to carefully analyze the pros and cons, make the decision quickly based on what comes from your heart.
Q. Who is the one person living or dead you would most like to meet for a drink?
A. Martin Luther King.
To read about Milstein’s panel on medical tourism, click here.
*Photo by Aaron Salcido.