FALL RIVER – Former U.S. Sen. Bill Bradley addressed more than 170 doctors in the Southcoast Hospitals Group on Oct. 8, calling for health care reforms that put patients’ health at the center of the system and for “total transparency” for quality and cost.

Bradley said financial incentives for hospitals, physicians, insurers and medical-device manufacturers “have to be aligned” to focus on patients’ well-being.

“The goal is to improve the overall health of all people, to keep our technological edge, to cover the unexpected [health incident] and to allow people to die in dignity,” he said.

Bradley, who is now a managing partner at Allen & Co. in New York and hosts a radio show on Sirius XM Radio, was invited to speak at the annual Southcoast doctors’ meeting through Rev. Dr. Robert Lawrence, senior minister of the First Congregational Church of Fall River.

Along with transparency and better-aligned incentives, Bradley called for national health goals for all health care providers, insurers and the government, including reducing infant mortality and addressing diseases such as diabetes. •