MINNEAPOLIS, March 21—Mayo Clinic President and CEO Dennis Cortese, M.D., addressed the National Press Club Friday on the subject of health care reform. In his talk he painted a picture of a health system that isn't working for most people, and described how it might be repaired.

"The good thing is that we really don’t have a true health care system," he told reporters. "Because a true system has systems engineers, people who designed the system to work the way it does. No one designed the system we currently have, which frees us up to think of ways to fix it."

Cortese said he was heartened that all major presidential candidates have put health care on the front burner in their projected plans. "That's really good news," he said, "because what we need is not legislation but leadership."

Cortese described the work being done by Mayo Clinic Health Policy Center, which is the underpinning for his talk.

Cortese said he hopes that the next president – he or she – will address the key questions that need to be addressed to make health care in the U.S. more responsive

• Do we have a learning system of health care in the U.S., one in which physicians and other providers all know the best course of action?
• Is the system integrated and coordinated?
• Is the value of health care improving? Are people living more healthfully because of our efforts?
• Are we paying too much for that value?
• Does everyone in the society have access to the system?

"If answer to any of these questions is no, the president needs to hold the right parties responsible."
The video for Cortese's appearance is available at Minnesota Public Radio' website.