PROGRAM ARCHIVE
Patricia Gabow, M.D.
CEO & Medical Director, Denver Health
David Lawrence
Eric Tangelos, MD, Chair, Primary Care Internal Medicine, Mayo Clinic College of Medicines
After years of promise, price resistance and administrative pain, wired medicine is doing great things. At the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota, it's done nothing less than provide open access that has put the patient and physician back together and streamlined care. Teams of caregivers can now offer real preventive and disease management services. With it, Mayo finds it can even manage larger populations of patients. Physicians have access to protocols. Patients can get “non-visit care” and do their own scheduling. Executives have the data to design continuous quality improvements and spot new opportunities for the practice.
Too good to be true? Dr. Tangelos's 40-physician practice has enjoyed all those dramatic changes and more during the past eight years of integrating EMRs and other information utilities into its operation.
Come hear him tell how they did it.
Beryl Craig Vallejo, Dr. PH, RN, Vice President, Quality and Outcomes Management, Centura Health
"Quality" may be the most talked-about, most measured and least understood phenomenon in health care today. Improving it, moreover, isn't easy. It means somehow getting providers, patients, regulators, payers and the dozens of other stakeholders in any given health care encounter to work together, consult the data, design a medically effective therapy, apply it with a clinically light touch and, moving at maximum possible speed, make darned sure the budget stays intact. But it can be done. Dr. Beryl Vallejo, Centura's vice president for quality and outcomes management, has examples and explanations. Join her in discussing national and state best-practice initiatives that are working, an overview of improvement programs, and a look at the methods facilities have used to involve their communities in improving care and ensuring patient safety.
Caz Matthews, President, Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield West Region
Staying ahead of health care's unsteady, none-too-geometrical curve isn't easy. When you've got a company as big and complex as our region's largest health plan, you've got a special challenge.
Helen Thompson, MA, RD, CDE, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Center for Human Nutrition
Obesity and torpor killed 400,000 people in 2000, nearly matching tobacco as the nation's worst public health hazard. HHS has launched an offensive.
Patricia A. Gabow, M.D., Chief Executive Officer and Medical Director, Denver Health
America's health care "safety net" is, according to the Institute of Medicine, now more of a "patchwork" than a an actual net to catch the 44 million low-income patients and Medicaid beneficiaries who need it. In many places, the system of public and community hospitals has been stretched perilously thin.
These are, as Dr. Patricia Gabow understates it, challenging times for it.
She should know. Dr. Gabow is CEO and medical director of Denver Health, Colorado's primary safety net facility and a national model for delivering care to a community's neediest patients.
Join her at CHSM next month as she outlines what is happening to America's safety net, how local and national governments can help. what the hospitals who are part of it need to do to achieve good patient outcomes.
Ralph (Chris) Christoffersen, Partner, Morgenthaler Ventures
Health care, we know, is in crisis. The population is aging, many diseases have inadequate or no treatments, and the costs of dealing with the illnesses we can treat continue to escalate. Worse yet, our ability to pay for them all is diminishing.
To many, biotechnology has become an answer - some say THE answer - to the problems not only in health care, but in the economy at large. Scientifically, biotech promises radically new diagnostic tools, treatments and cures. Economically, the biotech industry promises to be a major driver of the U.S. economy into the foreseeable future.
Join Ralph E. Christoffersen - former president of CSU, pharmaceutical executive, and partner in a leading venture capital firm - to look at the current status and future roles for biotechnology nationally and, closer to home, in Colorado.
William P. Thompson, Senior Vice President – Strategic Development, SSM HealthCare
Running a large hospital system means forever juggling science with finicky labor forces, dubious revenues streams, whimsical regulators and unpredictable costs. Running one efficiently, it's said, may be impossible.
But SSM Health Care, a multi-hospital 4500-bed system in St. Louis, does it and does it well. It is the first health care recipient of a Malcolm Baldrige Award.
Bill Thompson, SSM's senior vice president for strategic planning, outlines the four big topics he and the hospital tackled to help transform the organization into that rare example of a well-run, profitable hospital system.
Tim Coan, President & CEO, ALN Medical Management
Growing numbers of frustrated health care companies and caregivers are leaving the well-worn managed care path.
For them, the health care system's maddening, often-oppressive market forces have become the mother of invention. So entrepreneurial physicians try out "concierge" practice models, or refuse to accept insurance at all. Employees bypass company-provided health plans for more personalized coverage. Savvy caregivers open "specialty hospitals". Employers test consumer-driven insurance plans.
But how far off the beaten path are they going? To advocates, they are creative repairers of a broken system, bringing hope for delivering better care, controlling costs, and improving patients' - as well as physicians' - lifestyles.
To critics, they are self-centered, even immoral. The innovators, they predict, will enrich the few at the expense of the many, and cut huge numbers of people off from quality health care. What happens, for example, if specialty hospitals drive Colorado's safety-net hospitals out of business?
Join us, a panel of both advocates and critics, and Tim Coan, CEO of ALN Medical Management, for a look at the experiments as well as at what they mean.
Ceci Connolly, The Washington Post, PBS's Washington Week and Fox News
Helpful Medicare reform, like the oil shale boom, has been just around the corner for decades. Now, the need for change has become more critical than ever. The population is aging, meaning more people will need Medicare. Yet, after years of shrinking budgets, tightening requirements and metastasizing regulations, there is less Medicare to go around.
Congress and the White House again are struggling to work a 10-year, $400 billion prescription drug benefit into the program, and to do something about drug importation. Needless to say, their efforts will drastically affect the way we deliver care. They may also change the economics of significant chunks of the health care industry, if not of old age itself.
Journalist Ceci Connolly, national staff writer for the Washington Post, is covering the proposals, counter-proposals, ins and outs of the reform battle for the Post, PBS's Washington Week and Fox News. Join her as she wraps up this year's legislative action — or inaction — and its implications for the 2004 elections and Medicare itself.
Joel Edelman, J.D., Joel Edelman and Associates, Health Care Consultants
Medicaid faces challenges even in the best of times. These, however, are not the best of times.
With the number of unemployed and uncovered residents growing, more people than ever need Medicaid. Already, almost a quarter of Colorado's budget goes towards Medicaid and, with dramatic budget cuts coming, the cupboard is bare. Many few patients, frustrated by the difficulty of using the program, have dropped out of the system, uncovered. Many providers, angry about the lack of budget support, have stopped treating the Medicaid patients that remain.
Some people say the solution is to treat the immediate money issues: make it harder to get Medicaid, cut the benefits the program offers, or to get the federal government to contribute more money. But Joel Edelman, former CEO of Rose Medical Center, thinks there are more creative, sustainable and effective answers to improving the health of those in need.
Tambor Williams; Colorado Hospital Association President Larry Wall; Sloans Lake Vice President for Medical Affairs Dr. Dennis Waite; Colorado Auto Lobbyist Bill Imig; Rocky Mountain Health Plans Director of Front Range Provider Administration Dorien Rawlinson
This summer the medical section of your Colorado auto insurance went from a system in which each person pays his or her own medical costs (called Personal Injury Protection, or PIP) to a system in which the "at fault" driver must assume all medical costs (called a Tort System).
Consumers, health care providers, insurance companies and attorneys all are about to feel the impact.
Richard Lamm, Co-Director of the Institute for Public Policy Studies at the University of Denver
A growing number of uninsured, the return of health care inflation and a feeling in the pit of our stomach that our health care system is not all that it could be has put calls for health system reform back on the front burner.
As with previous debates concerning a "new and improved" U.S. health care system, many experts advocate incorporating features from other industrialized nations. In fact, we should look to other industrialized nations from around the world for alternative approaches to healthcare delivery and financing. However, the truth of the matter is that no country has figured out how to provide high quality, affordable care to all its citizens, while also keeping the beast of health care inflation in check.
Former 3-term Governor Richard Lamm will share his insights on the dilemmas every nation faces in attempting to structure an equitable and affordable health care system. Spend a morning exploring the common issues we all face and some of the ways to approach developing a better system in the United States.
Robinow presentation
Ann Robinow, President and COO, Patient Choice Healthcare, Inc.
Jennifer Johnson, Senior Benefits Analyst in Corporate Benefits, Medtronic
It's déjà vu all over again. Double-digit increases for group health insurance premiums are back, with no end in sight. The belief that managed care could put a permanent stop to escalating costs proved ill founded. With eroding confidence in the power of price negotiation and utilization controls, interest is growing in the power that could be harnessed with greater consumer accountability.
Our guest speakers will describe two types of consumer driven health benefit models: Patient Choice and Definity's defined contribution product. Patient Choice has been marketing in Denver for the last six months. Vivius, a major competitor of Definity, has also recently entered the Denver marketplace.
Attendees will learn how these different approaches empower consumers to make more informed decisions about spending health care dollars.
Paul Ellwood, MD, founder and president, The Jackson Hole Group
Hear one of the national leaders in health care policy. The Jackson Hole Group has reconvened after a seven-year hiatus. The same group that catalyzed the original, kind-hearted HMO movement and sparked debate during the Clinton years is now focused on consumers and the power of technology to make providers and institutions more accountable.
The very influential Jackson Hole Group is back with a new plan of action. Be among the first to hear about it - and contribute your own ideas.
Dr. Alvin Otsuka, Practicing Oncologist, Rocky Mountain Cancer Centers
Dr. Simon Samaha, VP IT & CIO, practicing Internist, Cooper Health System in Camden, NJ
Moderator: Michael Robbins, Business Transformation Coach, visiting scholar at The London School of Economics
New information technologies in healthcare promise to enhance physician effectiveness, improve patient safety, increase employee satisfaction and reduce medical costs. But we should expect such advances from technology itself. Technology can enable change. But aligning technology to new strategies is what actually delivers value.
Our guest physicians have learned to focus on business and clinical strategies to guide transformation of medical delivery. Find out what they've learned, for example, about implementing electronic medical records and computerized physician order entry in way that makes sense both clinically and financially.
Attendees will receive useful roadmap prepared by the program moderator, Michael Robbins of PerformanceIQ.com. It provides a graphic framework for aligning healthcare operations to changing business and clinical strategies
Antonio Prado-Gutierrez, Executive Director for the Colorado Association of Family Medicine Residencies and the Colorado Commission on Family Medicine
The US is facing a shortage of primary care and family medicine physicians. Thirty-five percent of all family physicians are 50 years of age or older, and the pipeline to replace these family physicians is minimal. Who cares? Good primary care is the nation's primary defense against expensive hospitalization. The predicted shortage of family physicians will have a severe financial impact on the healthcare system. Still, a shortage is imminent and is exacerbated by payers who offer little support to the primary care system.
Join Mr. Prado-Gutierrez and CHSM for a walk through the current primary care workforce issues facing America -- and Colorado.
William F. Jessee, MD, CMPE is President and Chief Executive Officer of the Medical Group Management Association
Learn about the major challenges facing medical groups today, including reimbursement, administrative complexity, compliance concerns, patient safety, consumerism, and information technology. Dr. Jessee will share information from MGMA's studies of "better performing practices" to illustrate how some groups are able to adapt to and overcome these obstacles. Finally, he will discuss current key legislative and regulatory issues that could either help -- or hurt -- group practices
Alex Trujillo, Regional Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration
James F. Riopelle, Chairman, CEO GeriMed of America Inc.
In about 10 years, the first baby boomers will turn 65. By 2016, it will cost Medicare more to treat them than it can bring into its coffers.
Will Medicare reform in time to avoid the resulting crisis? What are the possible solutions? Already, with the enactment of the Balanced Budget Act, Medicare cost-based reimbursement was replaced with an outpatient prospective payment system. Providers will continue to face enormous economic challenges. How will we cost-effectively provide quality care to a growing senior population?
Two expert speakers will address these challenges and provide a forum for questions. Don't miss this expanded and last CHSM program of the 2001-2002 year.
Jay Want, MD,
Chief medical officer and senior vice president of Physician Health Partners
And you thought disease management was dead. Come learn where disease management has been, where it is going and how you actually can improve quality while reducing the cost of care.
Jay Want, MD, will present a case study proving that, with the proper use of technology, physicians can successfully lower costs through disease management and better manage risk arrangements with health plans. He'll share specific outcome data based on 18 months work at Physician Health Partners.
Blair D. Gifford
Director of the Global Health Institute, University of Colorado
We all know healthcare is a big part of the U.S. economy. What about the international economy? Managers in the U.S. tend to forget about the global marketplace, but it's out there, waiting.
Healthcare is among the most rapidly growing sectors in the world economy. Right now, the sector represents $3 trillion in the OECD countries alone and is expected to rise to $4 trillion by 2005. There is increased trade and growing cross-border delivery of health services and education. Plus, more and more international companies are offering private health insurance in overseas markets.
We will look at the growth of international health trade, health organizations entering new markets, and the controversial relationship between globalization and the provision of health in developing countries.
Ann Mond Johnson, CEO of Subimo
Tim W. Jackson, National Federation of Independent Business
John Kurath, Regional Vice President for BenefitMall.com
Jay Ringhofer, Principal and Vice President of Benefit Management & Design, Inc.
Every year the healthcare industry faces new challenges in the design and implementation of employee health plans. Employers are more sensitive to the balance between benefits and costs and are looking for novel strategies that allow them to offer meaningful health coverage at an affordable price.
For a special, 2-hour February program, CHSM has invited several leading experts to present the latest ideas and challenges facing employers providing healthcare benefits.
DOWNLOADS
Ann Mond Johnson's presentation
William S. Frank
Founder and chairman of CareerLab
Get tools to rethink your career in light of world events and your own situation. Answer urgent questions: "How do I deal with stress and work/life balance? What is the job market like? Am I marketable? Should I stay in my current job or make a career change?"
Topics for discussion include:
- trends in the workplace;
- career benchmarks;
- laboratory and diagnostic tests; and
- electronic resources
This fast-paced talk will be filled with real-world advice and practical exercises you can use to guide your career — and the careers of your employees — for years to come.
Richard L. Clarke, FHFMA
President and chief executive officer of the Healthcare Financial Management Association
The government is spending billions to neutralize terrorism and boost the economy in a post-September 11th world. Without a doubt, this will have an impact on healthcare policy:
- As unemployment grows, where will we find resources to care for these non-paying or poorly paying patients?
- Will higher costs embolden some employers to change their health plan coverage?
- What will be the changes for the delivery of care?
Dr. Suzanne Delbanco
PFirst Executive Director of The Leapfrog Group
The 1999 Institute of Medicine (IOM) report "To Err Is Human: Building a Safer Health System" estimated the annual number of deaths from errors in medical care could range from 44,000 to 98,000. In response, several Fortune 500 companies and other large healthcare purchasers founded The Leapfrog Group and committed to follow a common set of purchasing principles that support leaps in patient safety. This voluntary program mobilizes large purchasers and alerts the healthcare industry that patient safety and customer value will be rewarded.
The Leapfrog Group recommends three areas of focus for providers: computer physician order entry, evidence-based hospital referral, and ICU physician staffing. Research indicates that these three improvements could save up to 58,300 lives per year and prevent 522,000 medication errors.
Dr. Suzanne Delbanco, the first Executive Director of The Leapfrog Group, will discuss the history of The Leapfrog Group, the overall action plan, and will bring us up-to-date on the implementation progress. Dr. Delbanco will also engage the audience in an interactive dialogue on the impact of the initiatives on us.
Rick J. Carlson, JD
Principal Investigator, "Understanding the Human Genome: Implications for Public and Private Decision Makers," a project supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.
President, Health Strategies Group
The deciphering of the human genome and the related scientific advances have captured the imagination of the scientific and lay communities. We face fabulous new opportunities -- and serious new concerns about privacy, access, and treatment implications, as well as a host of other ill-defined issues.
Decision makers in the public, private, and health care arenas stand face to face with complex issues that will shape our system for years to come.
How these issues are resolved will impact the future success of this field, the pace of technological adoption, and the willingness of the public to deal with the costs associated with this remarkable scientific advancement.
Health Information Technology and The Art of Care Transformation: The Means are Not the End
PowerPoint
Jeffrey Rose, MD, Physician Executive Director, Care Transformation Practice, Cerner
Fay A. Rozovsky, J.D., Senior Vice President, Marsh HealthSpectrum
In a time of concern about patient safety, there are apt to be new legal issues impacting the delivery of healthcare. New federal requirements, novel theories of case law, and payer demands are forming an important context for patient care. Add to this challenging mix the patient safety standards from JCAHO and the recommendations of the Institute of Medicine on patient safety.
Rather than coalescing into a solid basis for reform, this blend of private and public pressures has led to some emerging legal woes that involve the duty to disclose outcome information, a rethinking of credentialing, and how best to respond to a barrage of agencies all wanting answers about "what happened."
This presentation will identify the "pressure points" and provide insights into the ways in which healthcare professionals and organizations can respond effectively.
David J. Scanavino, M.D., President and CEO Physician Health Partners
Debbie Welle-Powell, CMPE, Senior Director of Managed Care and Network Development for Exempla Healthcare
Has the widely reported exodus from capitation been overblown?
A recent study by the Managed Care Information Center suggests 78 percent of respondents report that they are either seeking more capitation or are maintaining their current level of risk agreements. But in Colorado, high-profile providers are fleeing capitation.
What's really happening in Colorado, and how does it affect us as providers, consumers, consultants, and vendors?
David J. Scanavino, M.D., will tell us why capitation works. Debbie Welle-Powell will tell us why providers have gotten out of the risk business and why it doesn't work in this market.
Timothy O'Donnell, Founder, Touchstone Health Partners
Christopher Zakrzewski, Attorney, Foley and Lardner
Final regulations for implementation of the Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act are finally here. And they call for more than the usual actions from managers in healthcare.
HIPAA will demand attention from entire health organizations, not just their legal or technology departments. Nevertheless, very few senior executives are thoroughly assessing and preparing for HIPAA. That's a mistake. Hear what the experts think you should do about HIPAA.
by James Ehrlich, MD, Medical Director and Founder, Colorado Heart Imaging and Kim A. Adcock, MD, Associate Medical Director, Business Management, Colorado Permanente Medical Group
James Ehrlich, MD, will discuss the roles and limitations of a sophisticated preventive imaging technology -- called electron beam tomography -- as a physician-directed tool for therapeutic decisions and as a screen for the "worried well" consumer. His presentation will provoke conversation about medical necessity, cost-effectiveness, the promotion of "self-referral" behavior, and the inadequacies of conventional preventive care. Dr. Kim A. Adcock will provide a counter-perspective from the insurance industry.
by Keith D. Moore, Chairman and CEO, McManis Consulting
Three major trends are changing the healthcare market: the convergence of consumerism and technology, continuing cost pressures, and continuing organizational changes. Learn how some leading healthcare organizations -- like Mayo and Scott & White -- are responding to these and other challenges.
by Jock Bickert, CEO of Looking Glass, Inc., a database marketing applications company
Most marketing programs are based on analyses of complex numerical data. Overwhelmed by data, we forget we are trying to communicate with people.
The presentation will focus on a humanizing marketing system that identifies 27 distinctly different types of households. They are defined by demographic and lifestyle factors, but can also be described in terms of healthcare variables, as well as the media most effective in communicating with them.
by Dennis Brimhall, Fitzsimons and University Hospital
After much hand-wringing, the venerable University of Colorado Health Sciences Center is moving from its home in the center of Denver to the former Fitzsimons Base in Aurora.
According to Dennis Brimhall, the move includes fundamental reinventions of the ways UCHSC delivers health care and educates health professionals.
Dennis Brimhall is Associate Vice Chancellor for Fitzsimons and President of University Hospital
by Gail Wilensky, PhD
The federal government is by far the largest single payer of health care in this country. Medicare represents the lion's share of those payments. It is difficult to dispute that hospitals, individual providers, and essentially all other components of our healthcare system rely on Medicare reimbursement to some degree. Many believe, however, that the 300-pound gorilla that is Medicare discourages innovation and thwarts attempts at reinvention; others believe that Medicare's gorilla-like strength is the glue that holds our healthcare delivery system together. Dr. Wilensky will provide her perspective on the power and influence wielded by Medicare in our present system. Dr. Wilensky will also discuss her perspective on Medicare's future role in our system. To lend industry perspective to Dr. Wilensky's comments, CHSM will present a panel of experts representing various other component parts of our present healthcare system.
As keynote speaker during its annual May seminar, the Colorado Health Care Strategy & Management (CHSM) organization proudly presents Gail Wilensky, Ph.D. Dr. Wilensky is one of the country's most-respected inside-the-beltway health policy advisors. As chair of the Medicare Payment Advisory Committee that advises Congress on all issues related to Medicare reimbursement, Dr. Wilensky is no doubt among the most powerful and knowledgeable people in the country with respect to Medicare issues.
by Lori Thompson, Colorado Access
Even in a thriving economy, the number of uninsured in Colorado is increasing. This program will cover who comprises the uninsured population, who is caring for this population, and how the safety net in Colorado is responding to the increasing needs for access to health care.
Lori Thompson is the Director of Market Development at Colorado Access, a
nonprofit health plan serving the medial and behavioral health needs of the medical underserved. She is also a clinical social worker who has worked with "at-risk, vulnerable populations" for more than 17 years.
Before joining Colorado Access in 1996, Thompson was employed at Sunrise
Community Health Center in Greeley, Colorado, where she conducted a prenatal social work program, served as a field instructor for Colorado State University and was a nominee for Social Worker of the Year by the Colorado Chapter of the National Association of Social Workers.
PROGRAM NOTES
Dr. Rose is Chief Medical Officer of CyberPlus Corporation, President of Rose Writing and Informatics, and Former Director of Clinical Information Systems for Kaiser Permanente, Colorado Region.
This presentation uses changes in living organisms as a model for creating change in organizations, particularly introducing information technology.
Featured Speaker
Dr. Rose has spent nearly the last decade 'in the projects' as Director of Clinical Information Systems (CIS) for the Rocky Mountain Division of Kaiser Permanente and co-manager of their computerized health record endeavor ( winner CPRI 5th Annual Nicholas E. Davies Recognition Award). As the physician responsible for leading the design, development and implementation of a comprehensive clinical information system for the 500 practitioners and 2500 staff in the Kaiser Permanente Colorado Program, he has learned much about the human as well as the technical aspects of clinical computing. He is an appointed member of the National Initiative for Health Informatics (NIHI) and has served as a member of the Kaiser Permanente Clinical Information System Advisory Committee, CIS National Strategy Team, and Convergent Medical Terminology Group.
His book, Medicine and the Information Age, published in 1998, introduces language and principles from medical, information technology and business cultures in the new healthcare environment, and focuses on critical issues in medical practice as they relate to information technology.
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