Biking 3,255 miles to talk health care

What is your opinion of U.S. health care? That's the question Dr. Paul Gordon asked of average Americans he met while biking coast to coast on a three-month sabbatical from his family medicine practice. Stopping at diners, truck stops and cafes along the way, his conversations about healthcare costs, access and the Affordable Care Act earned national media attention. Dr. Gordon's goal? Amplify the voices of those in rural areas and small towns to help clinicians be better practitioners---and listeners---when it comes to their patients.

I considered it to be useful because I think that survey data is important, but more detailed conversations with people enrich the dialogue, enrich the content that we own in such an enormous way. That’s how I came up with the listening tour idea.

Paul Gordon, MD, MPH, Professor, Former Family and Community Medicine Director, University of Arizona College of Medicine – Tucson