We cannot wait for people to land in the hospital before we take their health seriously.

Hi friends,

I'm an ICU doctor. My mission is to keep people out of the ICU. I love the work I do, but I'd rather you never need to meet me there.

That means thinking beyond what happens inside a hospital. It means looking at the gaps between appointments, the habits we build at home, the example leaders set at work, and the people willing to try a different approach.

The time for action is now. Government and hospitals have a part to play. So do employers, healthcare entrepreneurs, clinicians and each of us.

The space between care matters

It's easy to assume that once you're in the healthcare system, everything connects. Someone orders the test. Someone reviews the result. Someone arranges the follow-up.

In my experience, that isn't always how it works. Some care pathways are well organized. Others leave people unsure what happens next.

I've seen patients whose cancer follow-up was delayed or whose care involved communication gaps, and who later returned with advanced disease. I saw this particularly during the pandemic. These are observations from my practice, not proof that a particular delay caused a particular outcome. But they have stayed with me.

Patients shouldn't have to carry the whole job of connecting their care. Yet self-advocacy often matters. Ask what the next step is, who is responsible for it, and how you'll hear about the result. If the plan isn't clear, ask again.

That isn't a replacement for better systems. It's a way to make the next step clearer while we work on them.

Entrepreneurs have a duty to contribute

Healthcare entrepreneurs can stay nimble. They can listen to a problem, try a solution and adjust when it isn't working.

I see an appetite for proactive, preventative and creative approaches because the system is struggling. We need people who can turn ideas into something useful.

The question I want us asking is simple: where can I contribute right now? Maybe it's making follow-up easier. Maybe it's helping people build healthier habits. Maybe it's reducing the work that keeps clinicians away from patients.

We don't all need to solve the same problem. We do need to take responsibility for the part we can help with.

Make prevention something we do together

For employers and leaders, preventative health doesn't have to start with an expensive program. It can start with what you make normal.

Try a group health challenge. Make room for walking. Work with a health coach. Offer good food at events. Talk about sleep as something worth protecting, rather than treating exhaustion as a badge of honour.

And model it. If you're encouraging your team to take their health seriously, let them see you doing the same. The message is stronger when it shows up in your calendar and your choices.

My hope is that this carries beyond work, into homes and families. Prevention works alongside good medical care, not instead of it.

Use technology to support care

I'm interested in technology that helps us do the basics better: less time on paperwork, clearer follow-up, and useful reminders that don't get lost in the noise.

Scribe tools are one area worth exploring. Wearables and biomarkers may also help clinicians have more proactive conversations. I also see room to test whether AI can help make triage and surgical wait-list management fairer and more efficient.

These are opportunities to evaluate, not promises that a tool will keep someone out of hospital. A reminder to ask about screening, take a walk, or protect bedtime can be useful without pretending to diagnose.

Technology should support clinical judgment, not replace it. General wellness guidance is not personalized medical advice.

Keep equity in the conversation

I'm open to difficult conversations about how we deliver healthcare, including private care. But equity has to be part of that discussion. Who can access a solution? Who gets left out? Does it make it easier for people who need care to get it?

Those questions belong in the plan from the start.

Start with the part you can change

We can acknowledge that the system needs to change and still act today.

As a patient, clarify your next step. As a leader, make healthy choices easier for your team. As an entrepreneur, find a gap you can help close. As a clinician, keep asking what happens after the patient leaves the room.

My goal is simple: keep more people out of the ICU. That work starts long before an ICU bed is needed.

What's one thing you can change this week?