A conversation with Michael Parkinson, MD, MPH, Colonel, USAF (Ret.)
Ten Ten Ten Advisor, Preventive Medicine and Chronic Disease
In this conversation, T.J. Tedesco of Ten Ten Ten sits down with Michael Parkinson, MD, MPH, Colonel, USAF (Ret.), to discuss whether America can improve health outcomes and lower healthcare costs at the same time, and how. Dr. Parkinson draws on decades of experience in preventive medicine, population health, military health system leadership, employer health strategy, and consumer-directed health plan innovation to explain why the Ten Ten Ten goal is ambitious but credible.
A central theme of the interview is that America’s healthcare crisis is not just a medical care problem. Dr. Parkinson argues that many of the leading drivers of illness, disability, and cost are heavily shaped by lifestyle, environment, behavior, and social conditions, not just what happens in a clinic or hospital. He emphasizes prevention, lifestyle medicine, health coaching, and behavior change as essential tools, and urges a shift in mindset from “healthcare will take care of it” to shared responsibility across individuals, families, employers, clinicians, and communities.
The conversation also tackles cost transparency and waste. Dr. Parkinson argues that the U.S. often pays far too much per unit of care, even when other countries use similar amounts of care, and calls for better access to real prices, outcomes data, bundled pricing, and shared decision-making. He points to unnecessary, ineffective, and unsafe care as a major source of waste, and challenges healthcare leaders to stop accepting what he calls the “tyranny of low expectations” in U.S. healthcare.
In closing, Dr. Parkinson offers practical guidance for the next 12 months: self-insured employers should consider consumer-directed, account-based health plans with incentives for prevention, chronic disease management, and shared decision making, while all of us should focus on healthier eating, movement, sleep, stress management, and stronger social connections. T.J. closes by reinforcing Ten Ten Ten’s mission to build an inclusive, participatory platform for healthcare reform and invites people to sign the pledge and help shape solutions that improve outcomes and lower costs.
