"Architecting the Future of Health Care" Member Meeting in Conjunction with MedImpact's Annual Conference
| Date: March 7, 2007 | Location: San Diego, CA |
On March 7th in San Diego, California, the Center for Health Transformation held our first member meeting of 2007. The meeting was a resounding success, and we all enjoyed the warm weather and the opportunity to join MedImpact's annual conference, "Architecting the Future of Health Care," at which CHT Founder Newt Gingrich gave the keynote speech.
At our meeting, we had the unique opportunity to explore transformational solutions and insights in workshops addressing three distinct issues: Health Information Technology, the 21st Century Intelligent Hospital System, and Medicaid and Consumerism.
Moderated by CHT Project Director David Merritt, the Health Information Technology Workshop included the following panelists: Bob Paul, President and Chief Operating Officer, Covisint; Nate McLemore, Director of Business Development, Microsoft; Mary Hall Gregg, Ph.D., Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Quest Diagnostics; and Bill Spooner, Chief Information Officer, Sharp Healthcare. The session focused on a discussion of the importance of several actions, including 1) building a community-wide infrastructure; 2) deploying health IT to providers; 3) implementing and improving hospital IT systems; and 4) engaging consumers through HIT. We look forward to receiving feedback on our new health IT book, Paper Kills ? Transforming Health and Healthcare with Information Technology, to be released in June of this year and available by the date of our next member meeting (June 5th).
The direction and vision of 21st Century Intelligent Hospital System Project was advanced during the hospital workshop. Melissa Ferguson, CHT Vice President of Operations, and Laura Linn, Georgia Project Director moderated the session, and panelists included Steve Bonner, President and Chief Executive Officer, Cancer Treatment Centers of America; Dr. Gordon Hunt, Chief Medical Officer, Sutter Health; and Ted Schwab, Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, Alegent Health. Discussion of key findings included:
Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) showed that they continue to build upon and refine a powerful patient-centered model using Six Sigma and Toyota production system metrics (for details, see the new white paper, "Principles Applied: The Cancer Treatment Centers of America's Approach to Individual-Centered Care," available at www.healthtransformation.net);
Sutter shared the importance of empowering providers with tools and solutions in order to maximize their abilities to provide high-quality care and lessons learned around implementation (i.e. realignment of internal processes and protocols); and
Alegent previewed the innovative solutions that are being deployed around transparency and pricing to start providing the tools necessary for consumers to make informed decisions (visit Alegent.com to preview their new My Cost tool ? they received approximately 600,000 hits in the first five to six weeks).
Lastly, at our Medicaid & Consumerism Workshop, we explored the applicability of consumerism to the Medicaid population. Moderated by CHT Project Director Jim Frogue, the panel included Chris Ryan, Chief Strategy and Marketing Officer, SHPS; Larry Goldman, Vice President of Strategic Planning and Development, ValueOptions; and Ron Bachman, Senior Fellow, the Center for Health Transformation. Discussion centered around how rewards and incentives can stimulate patient behavior change (leading to better outcomes) and the need for more coordinated care so that individuals ? particularly those with multiple chronic conditions ? get the care they need in the most appropriate setting, thereby saving lives and saving money.
