Health care reform is extremely controversial and has created intense differences and conflict. Health care costs continue to rise, making health insurance unaffordable; as a result, over 43 million U.S. residents do not have health insurance. On top of this, many employers are making employees responsible for their health care costs in an effort to save money. The patient care delivery model is shifting from an emphasis on acute care and treatment to primary care and prevention. The strong industry focus on improving quality, safety, effectiveness, and efficiency requires providers to work closely together in new innovative ways.

What are the implications of all of this change and complexity and how can the Enneagram help? The bottom line is that leaders and stakeholders in the health care industry need to work together collaboratively, which requires openness to experimentation, enhanced communication skills, the ability to resolve conflict, and a reliance on effective health care delivery teams who can solve problems.

The Enneagram is being used in a variety of health care settings as a powerful method for improving the working relationships between disparate leaders and stakeholders with different viewpoints and needs – between patients and physicians, between hospital administrators and physicians, between health care professionals working together across the continuum of care or on a given case, and between health care delivery systems and insurance companies. The Enneagram also helps health care providers understand the best course of treatment from an emotional and cognitive perspective. And finally, the Enneagram is being used to help coach patients as they become more responsible making health care decisions, managing their own care, and utilizing the health care remedies that are suggested to them.



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