Health Policy Forum, Friday Nov. 14, 2003.........
Southern Illinois University - Edwardsville

A Call to Action: Quality Healthcare for All

9:00 a.m. - 9:30a.m. Registration

9:30 a.m. - 9:45 a.m. Welcome & Forum Introduction…….
Paul Simon, Director of the Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University; Retired U.S. Senator from Illinois; Board Member, Signature Healthcare Foundation

9:45 a.m. - 10:45 a.m. Opening Address
Cost Comparisons between the United States and Canadian Healthcare Systems
Stephanie J. Woolhandler, M.D.,
Associate Professor of Medicine, Harvard University Medical School
Dr. Woolhandler is lead author of the recent study, published in the New England Journal of Medicine, describing the cost of processing healthcare related paperwork in the U.S. as three times the cost of that function in Canada. Dr. Woolhandler will summarize the study research and findings and discuss implications for the United States system.
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10:45 a.m. - 11:45 a.m. Panel on Governmental Actions
Missouri State Senator Patrick Dougherty
Missouri Representative Sam Page
Illinois State Medical Society Vice President Joyce Nardulli

12:00 p.m. Lunch Keynote: "One More Turn of the Wrench"
James H. Herndon, MD
President, American Association of Orthopaedic Surgeons
Partners Health Care System Chairman of Orthopedic Surgeons; William H. and Johanna A. Harris Professor of Orthopaedic Surgery, Harvard Medical School
Dr. Herndon will address applying Six Sigma to medicine, as well the need for physicians to exert leadership in quality improvement in healthcare.

1:45 p.m. - 4:25 p.m. Concurrent Workshops (participants choose two)

A. Making Health Care Performance Reports More Effective:
Evidence from an Experiment in the State of Wisconsin.

Judith Hibbard, DrPH, University of Oregon,
Department of Planning, Public Policy and Management, Eugene, OR
Dr. Hibbard will discuss the barriers to effective public reporting and the strategies for increasing the impact of reports on both consumers and on providers. Drawing on her recent research she will delineate key features that can make a public report effective. One of her recent studies showed that making performance public stimulates quality improvement activities in the areas where performance is reported to be low. Study findings from the consumer side of the evaluation indicate that reporting did in fact affect area hospitals' reputations.

B. Population Based Disease Management Under Fee-For-Service Medicare
Sandra Foote
Director, Health Insurance Reform Project at The George Washington University
Ms. Foote will discuss current plans in Congress and in the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services to adopt population-based disease management programs under fee-for-service Medicare. She will lead a discussion of key opportunities and issues to consider in adapting such programs for use in the fee-for-service Medicare context.

C. Clinical and economic potential of minimally invasive knee surgery
Dr. Schroer; Signature Health Services, Inc.
Dr. Shroer will discuss the potential clinical advance of minimally invasive total knee surgery and the financial incentives and disincentives to "building a better mousetrap".

D. Shifting Focus - Cost Control Alternatives to Managed Healthcare
R. Jeffrey Davis, Vice President, Aon Consulting, In.
With the promise of managed care fading, where benefit plan sponsors must turn to arrest double digit cost escalation.

4:25p.m. - 5:15 p.m. Reception

This program is approved for 5.7 contact hours for nurses by the SIUE School of Nursing, which is an approved provider of continuing nursing education by the Illinois Nurse Association which is an accredited approver by the American Nurses Credentialing Center.

Other scholarship support available by calling 618-791-8737