Opinion: Collaborations on the rise between Utah and French healthcare systems

The U.S. health care system is often compared to European systems in unflattering terms, yet European countries are also under increasing pressure to increase their quality of care and efficiency. Many are looking to the United States for innovative, proven solutions. There is much that we can learn from each other. A newly formed collaboration involving Utah's Intermountain Healthcare and the French government is providing one vehicle for that learning. Last February, senior leaders from Intermountain were invited to France to meet with that nation's top health care officials, including the French vice-minister of health, senior government health policy leaders, physicians, and the leader of health insurance for the Paris region.