Why the patient's voice is the missing measure of success in private health
16 July 2026
AHSA CEO Andrew Sando writes for Health Services Daily on why the real reform conversation isn’t about price per service — but about measuring what care actually delivers for patients.
Private healthcare measures itself in extraordinary detail — every episode, every dollar, every device. What it rarely measures is whether the patient ended up better.
In a new opinion piece for Health Services Daily, AHSA Chief Executive Andrew Sando argues that this is the reform conversation the sector isn’t having. Rather than another round of changes focused on price and volume, he makes the case for patient-reported data as the missing link — capable of stripping out low-value care while lifting the quality and value of the care that remains.
Drawing on one of the country’s largest private patient-reported datasets, he points to what’s already happening on the ground: hospitals redesigning care around what patients tell them, and value — not volume — being rewarded.
“We keep measuring what care costs. We should be listening and measuring what it delivers.”