It was dismaying but not entirely surprising to learn the results of the Commonwealth Fund’s recently released analysis of international health care performance. The report ranked the United States last among industrialized nations in providing timely and effective to prevent deaths.

According to the report, in 2011, U.S. health care “costs were up sharply, access to care deteriorated, health system efficiency remained low, disparities persisted and health outcomes failed to keep pace with the benchmarks” set by other countries. It is not an overstatement to say that controlling health care costs and improving health care quality is critical to Maine’s physical and economic health, yet the majority of Maine people believe there is little we can do to change the current system.

The employers and government entities who foot the tab for the lucky ones among us who have coverage feel employees do not appreciate their benefit, do not fully comprehend how much it costs to provide and generally resist changing any aspects of their coverage.

Many doctors and hospitals feel unable to provide optimal patient care due to lack of data, poor coordination with other providers and a payment system that rewards services not results. All of us are frustrated with benefit program structures that spend much of their resources on questionable services, while placing administrative and cost barriers in front of those services that are known to have the highest return on investment.

It is well documented that in the U.S., patients get the care experts recommend for the treatment of chronic illnesses like depression and diabetes only half of the time yet health care providers are often paid their full charges for these services. These misses in diagnosis and treatment can and do lead to hospitalizations that can place patients in an environment which is also prone to errors, leading to in some cases higher costs, poorer outcomes and occasionally even death.

Though Maine enjoys some of the best health care quality in country, there is significant variation within our borders on quality and cost and substantial room for additional improvement.

This November, the Maine Health Management Coalition Foundation, the Daniel Hanley Center for Health Leadership, the Maine Health Access Foundation and a number of other concerned Maine organizations are bringing author T.R. Reid to Maine for a series of talks on how to improve health care. Reid’s The Healing of America — a New York Times bestseller — explores health systems in seven countries and finds no perfect system but many desirable features that achieve higher quality and lower costs than the U.S. system. He also has an upcoming PBS special this winter on high performing health care systems in the U.S.

We hope people will take the time to move beyond any preconceived notions of other nation’s health care systems to get the facts.

Our foundation’s website www.getbettermaine.org lists the locations and dates where Reid is speaking this week.

Reid’s visit is meant to show what is possible in achieving high quality, more affordable health care. In order to improve our system, we need everyone — employers, employees, providers and insurers — to be part of the discussion.

Once we have this foundation, we hope to move to a new payment model that only pays for care that is performed properly, and aligned to be seamless to those who are receiving it. Additionally, we need to take a long hard look at payment processes that add nothing to care delivery, but often increase costs, such as multiple payment rules and schedules. Finally, we would like to see more strategies employed to help patients live a healthy life; as nearly 50 percent of our health care costs are rooted in poor lifestyle choices.

There is a way forward to improve health care in Maine but we all need to be open to change, move together and set our sights higher. Let’s stop pointing fingers at each other and all become part of the cure.

Elizabeth Mitchell is the CEO of the Maine Health Management Coalition and MHMC Foundation. Frank Johnson is on the board of the MHMC and is executive director of Maine Employee Health and Benefits.