I will be attending the annual National Health Policy Conference this Monday and Tuesday in Washington, DC. If anybody else here is going, please feel free to contact me at email: dr DOT steveb AT verizon DOT net and perhaps we can meet-up in person.
This is put on by the more or less academic association of people who do health services research and the journal Health Affairs, but has become a meeting where politicians, congressional aides, think tankers, advocates... and a lot of representatives from insurance companies and other private sector folks, talk and mingle.
This year HHS Secretary Sebelius is the headliner; White House Health Czar DeParle was originally listed, but was recently replaced by FDA chief Hamburg (things that make you go hmmmm).
Needless to say single payer is not on the agenda, while representatives from the murder by spreadsheet companies are. Still the meeting should be interesting. Below is the agenda showing what is the allowable range of discussion (interesting, even if pre-compromised):
Monday, February 8
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m. Registration
9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Administration Plenary
Speakers: *Secretary Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services
*Margaret Hamburg, U.S. Food and Drug Administration
10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. Break
Sponsored by California Healthcare Foundation
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Concurrent Breakouts
Reforming Provider Payment to Promote Models of Integrated Delivery
Moderator: *Paul Ginsburg, Center for Studying Health System Change
Speakers: *Mark McClellan, Brookings Institution
*Hoangmai Pham, Center for Studying Health System Change
*Lewis Sandy, UnitedHealth Group
The Implications of Health Care Reform for Long-term Services and Support
Moderator: *Bruce Chernof, SCAN Foundation
Speakers: John Rother, AARP
*David Gould, United Hospital Fund
*Laura Trejo, Los Angeles Department of Aging
Empowering Consumers Through Information Therapy
Moderator: *Joshua Seidman, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
Speakers: *Donald Kemper, Healthwise
*Richard Onizuka, Washington State Health Care Authority
*Dawn Stacey, University of Ottawa School of Nursing
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Lunch Plenary
Speaker: *Governor James Doyle (D-Wis.)
2:00 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. Concurrent Breakouts
Understanding Geographic Variation
Moderator: *Michael Chernew, Harvard Medical School
Speakers: *Mark Miller, MedPAC
*Thomas Priselac, Cedars Sinai Health Care System
*Nicholas Wolter, Billings Clinic
The Nation’s Agenda for Prevention
Moderator: *Wilhelmine Miller, The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services
Speakers: *Jeffrey Levi, Trust for America's Health
*Eduardo Sanchez, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Texas
*Steven Woolf, Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center
Redesigning Health Care Workforce for the Right Primary Care Skill Mix
Moderator: *Susan Reinhard, AARP
Speakers: *Margaret Flinter, Community Health Center
*Fitzhugh Mullan, The George Washington University
*Ann Torregrossa, Pennsylvania Office of the Governor
3:30 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. Break
4:00 p.m. - 5:15 p.m.
Health Reform on Hold? The View from the Private Sector
Moderator: *Susan Dentzer, Health Affairs
Speakers: *Susan DeVore, Premier, Inc.
*Paul Grundy, IBM Healthcare Transformation
5:15 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.
Health Reform Is Sick Again: Is It a Chronic Condition?
Speaker: *Uwe Reinhardt, Princeton University
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Reception
Tuesday, February 9
8:00 a.m. - 9:00 a.m.
Registration
9:00 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.
Congressional Plenary
Opening Remarks Senator Tom Harkin (D-Iowa)
Moderator: *John Iglehart, Health Affairs
Speakers: Cybele Bjorklund, House Committee on Ways and Means
*Charles Clapton, Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
*Dan Elling, House Committee on Ways and Means
*Elizabeth Fowler, Senate Committee on Finance
*Emily Porter, Office of the House Minority Leader
Wendell Primus, Office of the Speaker of the House of Representatives
10:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m.
Break
11:00 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Concurrent Breakouts
Reimagining Federal and State Roles in Health Care Reform
Moderator: *Diane Rowland, Kaiser Family Foundation
Speakers: *John Colmers, Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene
*Jon Kingsdale, Commonwealth of Massachusetts Health Insurance Connector Authority
*Mark Pauly, University of Pennsylvania
Using Evidence to Design Benefits
Sponsored by Wellpoint, Inc.
Moderator: *Peter Neumann, Tufts-New England Medical Center
Speakers: *Clifford Goodman, The Lewin Group
*Samuel Nussbaum, Wellpoint
*Kevin Volpp, University of Pennsylvania
From HIT to Actionable Knowledge: Building the Research Bridge
Moderator: *Patricia Pittman, AcademyHealth
Speakers: *Jonathan Darer, Geisinger Health System
*Seth Eisen, Veterans Health Administration
*Harold Luft, Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute
*Thomas MacKenzie, Denver Health
*Sarah Shih, New York City Primary Care Information Project
*Paul Wallace, Kaiser Permanente
12:30 p.m. - 2:00 p.m. Lunch Plenary
Presentation of HSR Impact Award
Presenter: *Louis Rossiter, The College of William and Mary
Speaker: *Atul Gawande, Brigham and Women’s Hospital
Copies of Dr. Gawande's new book, The Checklist Manifesto, will be available for purchase. A book-signing will follow his presentation.
2:00 - 3:30 p.m.
The Group Employed Model as a Foundation for Health Care Delivery Reform
Moderator: *W. David Helms, AcademyHealth
Speakers: *William Streck, Bassett Healthcare
*Harold Luft, Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute
*Jay Crosson, Kaiser Permanente
*Elliott Fisher, Dartmouth Medical School
If anybody else here is going, please feel free to contact me at email: dr DOT steveb AT verizon DOT net and perhaps we can meet-up in person.