Making Sense of Healthcare

Where human curiosity and AI, meet cognitive and brain science to reveal the reasons why healthcare doesn’t work the way we want … and how to fix it.

The Greatest Obstacle to The Transformation of Healthcare

…  are the beliefs we knowingly and unknowingly hold about the way healthcare should work

Have you ever wondered why efforts to transform healthcare in recent years have focused so much on the the digitization of healthcare?   Is it because of the “potential” that we  attribute to digital technology … or because of the the evidence-based  benefits actually resulting from its introduction? 

has I think many of us could agree that it is NOT because of any “stellar” outcomes attributed to technologies such as the EMR, Patient Portal, Or Telehealth. 

experienced EMRs and patient portals by the introduction on the s drowning in data, digital tools, and strategies for change — yet we still can’t explain why so many efforts to transform healthcare efforts fail.   Why, for example are have so many clinicians become burned out and left the industry? Why are patients increasingly disengaged when it comes to their healthcare?  Why hasn’t digital consumer technology transformed healthcare like it did retail?

When we think of transforming healthcare, we tend to frame the problems facing healthcare as systems and process challenges, care delivery challenges, and reimbursement issues.    

“If we don’t understand how each of us — in our different roles — actually ‘makes sense’ of healthcare, we’ll keep designing solutions that people won’t use, can’t trust, and don’t value.”

• Reimbursement & incentives are misaligned.

• We need better data, better interoperability, better digital tools.

• Healthcare needs to be more like retail

Reframing the Challenges Facing Healthcare

Why?

They fail quite often because they trying to solve the wrong problem.

For decades we have tended to frame the challenges facing healthcare as being structural, process, reimbursement and h information technology issues.   We are constantly being told that:

What If the Real Problem Is Cognitive … Not Structural Or Systems?

What if the greatest obstacle to transforming healthcare aren’t flawed policy, outdated systems, or inadequate financial incentives … but dysfunctional and misaligned beliefs and mental models we each bring to our roles as clinicians, patients, and healthcare leaders?

What if the real problem is that the human brain—evolutionarily wired as it is to seek safety, avoid uncertainty, and minimize cognitive effort—isn’t naturally suited to the kind of open, adaptive, trust-driven collaboration that healthcare reform requires?

What if the resistance to change we all senses isn’t a failure of will or leadership—but a lack of understanding about how the human mind is actually wired to work when it comes to healthcare?

This Is Where Making Sense of Healthcare Comes In

Making Sense of Healthcare is a research and consulting group dedicated to the curation, translation, and application of cognitive and brain science to address some of the most persistent challenges facing healthcare today—and into the future.

Put simply, we spend a lot of time thinking about how we think about healthcare—and how to apply those insights to help executives, physicians, patients, and innovators make smarter, more sustainable strategic, marketing, and business decisions.

Because until we align our strategies with how people actually think, decide, trust, and heal…
healthcare will continue to underperform—no matter how much we invest.

Conventional wisdom for several decades now has been telling us in healthcare that we can “fix” anything that wrong with healthcare if we throw enough AI-driven, digital technology, bid data, and new care delivery models at the problem. 

At face value, seemingly reasonable arguments have been made for how AI and health IT can optimize efficiency and profitability in healthcare delivery. 

Many of you remember Meaningful Use and the all the buzz about EMRs and patient portals.  Patient portals we supposed to transform healthcare.  By giving people access to their own health information, they would be come empowered and more engaged in their own healthcare. 

.  , likThis was before AI appeared on the scene.  A case can be made that the future of healthcare is digital.

Truth be told, there is much larger and more compelling body of evidence that calls “conventional wisdom” that the “future of healthcare is digital”, into serious question.

I am referring to the evidence coming out of the fields of cognitive and brain science.  For decades now advancements in the fields of cognitive psychology and cognitive neuroscience have been exploring and researching the workings of the human brain. 

We at Making Sense of Healthcare believe that these research finding have significant implications for the future 

better evidence While there is scant evidence to back up such claims, and plenty of evidence to question their validity, anyone remember Meaningful Use, AI is the newest shiny object that has everyone’s attention.

in recent years that healthcare can become more efficient and

But there’s scant evidence to back up “conventional wisdom” when it come to healthcare reform.  Anyone remember when Meaningful Use unleashed EMRs and patient portals on the healthcare industry?  All of us, providers and patients alike, are still dealing with the fallout from Meaningful Use.

Meaningful Use and subsequent Truth be told, there was scientific evidence that was just becoming available at the time of Meaningful Use that told a very very different story.  The , coming out of the field of cognitive and brain science, that was beginning to tell a different story.  But no one had translated eventaully  to this bef. And the latest findings from cognitive and brain science suggest just the opposite.

Human beings are not wired for disruption. The human brain naturally seeks continuity, certainty, and cognitive ease—not constant change,  lots of choices, or uncertainty.  We are creatures of habit, not logic.

Yes, healthcare desperately needs a little disruption, but unless intentionally managed, disruption will not lead to change.  Instead, it will trigger uncertainty, cognitive dissonance, and cognitive overload—fueling even greater resistance to change and making healthcare reform harder, not easier.

Today, as in recent decades, healthcare experts are touting healthcare reform inititives  ystems across the U.S. have undertaken countless reform initiatives—from policy changes and digital health IT solutions to new care delivery and reimbursement models.  Today is no different.  Many of us still Yet, these efforts often fall short of realizing their full potential.

Despite continuous innovation, healthcare remains surprisingly resistant to change.

Why?

Cognitive and brain science tells us that resistance is a natural, predictable reaction of the human brain to any threats of any kind, be it perceived or real.  

As its turns out, the human brain has a natural preference for stability, predictability, and familiar patterns, e.g., the status quo, especially in complex, uncertain environments like healthcare.  Change of any kind, perceived or real, is inherently threatening to the human brain and resistance is how the brain is automatic wired to respond, when the status quo no longer serves us. 

Resistance to change, then, is not a flaw in healthcare’s design … it is a natural reaction by the human brain to how it perceives change.  Change that threatens the brain’s sense of stability and safety that it associates with the familiar, e.g., status quo, is something to be to be resisted, not embraced even when the status quo is no longer serving us.  The human mind is wired to keep us safe … not make us rational.

Specifically, the “problem is not a lack of innovative beliefs and assumptions about how healthcare SHOULD WORK.  The problem rather is that these “great ideas” often conflict with conditioned beliefs we are unaware of still holding onto from the past about the way healthcare HAS ALWAYS WORKED.At Making Sense of Healthcare, we believe that the reason so many of these attempts to “fix” healthcare have failed has more to do with the way the human brain is wired to work than with how healthcare is structured, staffed, or financed.

The evidence coming out of the fields of cognitive and brain science bears this hypothesis out.

Resistance to change is not so much the result of a flaw in the healthcare system, but rather the result of the human brain’s natural preference for stability, predictability, and familiar patterns, especially in complex, uncertain environments like healthcare. When faced with the vast complexity and uncertainty that characterizes modern healthcare, individuals and organizations often retreat into established ways of thinking and working—creating a cognitive barrier to transformation.

Our approach focuses on these cognitive barriers—deeply ingrained mental models, biases, and decision-making patterns that operate both at the conscious and unconscious levels. Whether it’s confirmation bias in clinicians or status quo bias in healthcare leaders, these natural tendencies shape how people interpret new information, respond to uncertainty, and ultimately, how they engage with efforts to change.

If we are to truly transform healthcare, we must address these cognitive barriers, leveraging insights from cognitive science to develop solutions that align with how the human brain actually works. By understanding and working with, rather than against, the brain’s tendencies, we can design more effective, sustainable interventions that stand a real chance of overcoming resistance to change and driving true transformation in healthcare.

Healthcare and the healthcare industry is at a crossroad.  The challenges facing healthcare today have been a long time in the making.  The decisions we make today concerning the future of healthcare will have implications long into the future.  We need to get it right.

Not surprisingly, many among us believe that the solution to many challenges facing healthcare can be fixed the way always fix problems.  All we need is faster, smarter, AI- driven digital technology, new healthcare delivery models aimed at getting patients to take more responsibility for their own decision making, healthcare use, and behavior.   

But what if the challenges we face in healthcare today cannot be “fixed” just with more, technology, new consumer-driven care models, and revised reimbursement models?  It’s been a decade since Meaningful Use and the introduction of EMRs and patient portals. 

What if the root cause of the problems facing healthcare have little to do with and cannot be fixed by AI, chat bots, and offloading healthcare to patients and their families at home?

What if there was another explanation, a better explanation for why healthcare seldom works the way we think it should?

According to cognitive and brain science, the reasons why attempts to “fix” healthcare in the past have failed has less to do with how healthcare is structured or financed … and more to do with how the human mind is wired to work.

Specifically, the “problem is not a lack of innovative beliefs and assumptions about how healthcare SHOULD WORK.  The problem rather is that these “great ideas” often conflict with conditioned beliefs we are unaware of still holding onto from the past about the way healthcare HAS ALWAYS WORKED.

By reframing the transformation of facing healthcare as a “cognitive challenge” rather than a “technological challenge” or a “systems or operational challenge”  we at Making Sense of Healthcare believe that there is an entirely new way of thinking about and achieving the kind of meaningful healthcare transformation we all seek.   

At Making Sense of Healthcare we believe that:

Resistance to change, then, is not simply a flaw in healthcare’s design. It is a natural outcome of how the human brain processes uncertainty, disruption, and new expectations—especially in complex, high-stakes environments.

Imagine that. 

Welcome to Making Sense of Healthcare

A Different Approach to Thinking About Transforming Healthcare 

According to cognitive and brain science, the human mind is wired to seek stability, predictability, and cognitive ease—not disruption, uncertainty, or complexity.

If we want different outcomes than the ones we’re getting now,
we must begin by thinking differently about the real obstacles to change.

We created Making Sense of Healthcare to offer a fundamentally different way of thinking about how healthcare works—and why it so often fails to change.

While conventional reform efforts focus on systems, structures, incentives, and technologies, we focus on what we believe is the missing link:
the Cognitive Determinants of Change.

Just as the social determinants of health shape a person’s well-being and healthcare utilization,
the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral realities of the human brain shape whether change is accepted, resisted, or ignored.

These determinants include the unconscious beliefs, mental models, emotional triggers, and identity dynamics that silently guide behavior—yet rarely show up in strategy sessions or implementation plans.

Making Sense of Healthcare reveals these hidden forces and help healthcare leaders design change that people can trust, adopt, and sustain—because it aligns with how the mind actually works.

✅ This version now:

The “Build It and They Will Come” Myth

One of the most persistent mis-under-standings in healthcare is the belief that simply building new tools—like patient portals, telehealth platforms, or wearable apps—will naturally drive adoption over time.

But behavioral science tells a different story:<ul><li>Humans are wired for stability and cognitive ease—not for constant change.</li><li>Behavior change requires relational trust, emotional support, and guided sense-making—not just access to technology.</li></ul>Without addressing these realities, even the best tools will face low adoption, frustration, and failure.

In healthcare, simply building it is not enough.<br>We must design for how the mind actually works.

The “Build It and They Will Come” Myth

One of the most persistent mis-under-standings in healthcare is the belief that simply building new tools—like patient portals, telehealth platforms, or wearable apps—will naturally drive adoption over time.

But behavioral science tells a different story:<ul><li>Humans are wired for stability and cognitive ease—not for constant change.</li><li>Behavior change requires relational trust, emotional support, and guided sense-making—not just access to technology.</li></ul>Without addressing these realities, even the best tools will face low adoption, frustration, and failure.

In healthcare, simply building it is not enough.<br>We must design for how the mind actually works.

If, as cognitive and brain science tells us that the human mind is wired to seek stability, predictability, and cognitive ease—what happens when we feed it a constant diet of complexity, uncertainty, disruption, and cognitive dissonance?

You get the status quo.

The human brain prefers certainty.  It prefers what the comfort and safety of the status quo even when it no longer serves us.  The reason why healthcare is so resistant to change, is because that is the the way the the human mind has evolutionarily been wired to work.

The goal of the human mind is to help us survive … not be rational. 

If we want different outcomes than the ones we’re getting now,
we must begin by thinking differently about the real obstacles to change.

We created Making Sense of Healthcare as  a fundamentally different, evidence-based way of thinking about how healthcare works—and why it so often fails to change.

While conventional reform efforts focus on systems, structures, incentives, and technologies, we focus on what we believe is the missing link: the Cognitive Determinants of Change.

Just as the social determinants of health shape a person’s well-being and healthcare utilization,
the cognitive determinants of care, e.g., thinking, emotional, and behavioral realities of the human brain that shape whether change is accepted, resisted, or ignored.

These determinants include the unconscious beliefs, mental models, emotional triggers, and identity dynamics that silently guide behavior—yet rarely show up in strategy sessions or implementation plans.

Making Sense of Healthcare exists to surface these hidden forces and help healthcare leaders design change that people can trust, adopt, and sustain—because it aligns with how the mind actually works.

succeeds or fails.  

to fill a critical gap:
While most healthcare reforms focus on systems, structures, and technologies, too few address the cognitive, emotional, and behavioral realities that determine whether change succeeds or fails.

We specialize in translating insights from cognitive and brain science into practical strategies that help healthcare leaders, clinicians, solution developers, and patients:

• Uncover the hidden mental models, assumptions, and biases that quietly sabotage change.

• Design solutions and innovations that align with how the human mind actually processes uncertainty, trust, and behavior.

• Create change initiatives that people can trust, accept, and embody—not just comply with temporarily.

Our mission is simple:
To help healthcare think differently—so it can finally transform differently.

Because until we change the way we think about healthcare,
we’ll never truly change the way healthcare works.

Here are just some of the questions we will address: 

Making Sense of Healthcare is a research and consulting group specializing in addressing the cognitive barriers to the transformation of healtcare.

We focus on translating and applying insights from cognitive and brain science into practical strategies and tools that help clients facilitate meaningful and lasting healthcare change.

Making Sense of Healthcare is where human curiosity, meets cognitive and brain science… and with the help of AI, help physicians, patients, healthcare executives, and solution developersreimagine the future of healthcare.

We  achieve real, sustainable healthcare transformation—by working with, rather than against, how the human mind is naturally wired to think, feel, and act.

Our mission is simple.  We search for answers to some of healthcare’s biggest questions and in doing so, help build a better future for healthcare.

Here are just some of the questions we will address: 

Making Sense of Healthcare is a research and consulting group specializing in addressing the cognitive barriers to the transformation of healtcare. 

We focus on translating and applying insights from cognitive and brain science into practical strategies and tools that help clients facilitate meaningful and lasting healthcare change.

Making Sense of Healthcare is where human curiosity, meets cognitive and brain science… and with the help of AI, help physicians, patients, healthcare executives, and solution developersreimagine the future of healthcare.   

We  achieve real, sustainable healthcare transformation—by working with, rather than against, how the human mind is naturally wired to think, feel, and act.

Our mission is simple.  We search for answers to some of healthcare’s biggest questions and in doing so, help build a better future for healthcare.

Here are just some of the questions we will address: 

Making Sense of Healthcare is a research and consulting group specializing in addressing the cognitive barriers to the transformation of healtcare. 

We focus on translating and applying insights from cognitive and brain science into practical strategies and tools that help clients facilitate meaningful and lasting healthcare change.

Making Sense of Healthcare is where human curiosity, meets cognitive and brain science… and with the help of AI, help physicians, patients, healthcare executives, and solution developersreimagine the future of healthcare.   

We  achieve real, sustainable healthcare transformation—by working with, rather than against, how the human mind is naturally wired to think, feel, and act.

Our mission is simple.  We search for answers to some of healthcare’s biggest questions and in doing so, help build a better future for healthcare.

Here are just some of the questions we will address: 

Making Sense of Health is research and consulting group that specializes in translating and applying insights from cognitive and brain science research into practical strategies and tools to facilitate meaningful change in the healthcare is delivered.   help physicians, patients, healthcare executives, and solution developers achieve meaningful, lasting healthcare transformation.

Making Sense  of  Healthcare is where human curiosity, meets cognitive and brain science.  Where with the help of AI, we explore share with our readers fascinating new insights into the human mind and the way it is wired to work.  Our mission is to look for answers to some of healthcare’s biggest challenges … and is so doing, facilitate the transformation of healthcare going forward.