Gingrich, founder of the Center for Health Transformation, discussed a model for improving a community’s health and thus reducing health care costs that “will not be done at the federal level,” but must instead be tackled locally.

“What’s going on in Washington has nothing to do with health,” Gingrich said. The largely insurance-focused reform has more to do with bureaucracy and payments, he said. It will be Americans, not the government, who must make the decision to improve their health and then create community spirit that will reinforce that bias toward healthy living.

Using Nashville as an example, Gingrich explained how a community would lay out the values it wants to achieve, turn those values into a larger vision or goal for a healthy Nashville, set the metrics of how it would be measured and then develop strategies to achieve those goals.

Such a plan would require the input of the people in the city, as well as a concerted commitment from local elected and business officials in working toward those goals, not just having a “New Year’s resolution” approach, he said.

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