MITCNC HealthCare Forum announces its first event:

“Health Care Reform Strategies: Managed Competition vs. Single Payer”

Interested in participating in an interactive dialogue around national health care reform? Are you looking to be part of the solution? Please join us for the first MITCNC HealthCare forum.

What are our policy options for healthcare in the US?

The HealthCare forum panel discussion will describe the current U.S. healthcare system and its problems, contrast it with alternative healthcare systems, and identify issues for U.S. policymakers.

In this talk we will explore the state of the national healthcare system and debate the alternatives of managed competition versus single payer. With our limited resources, we need to do better to deliver good access, good quality at a reasonable cost.

Learn from our panelists as they answer the following questions;

1. What exactly is managed competition? What exactly is single payer? What makes them different from today’s system?

2. What do they propose within the proposed system framework?

3. How does their proposal meet goals of improving access, maintaining or improving quality, and controlling cost?

4. Could their proposal work at the state level, or must it be national?

5. What evidence do they have that it would work? What countries have these types of systems? How do they work?

6. What would need to happen (politically and practically) for their proposal to be enacted?

7. What one thing could MITCNC Alumni do to make a positive difference?

This first forum will provide attendees with a chance to learn about proposals for national health reform, and a roundtable discussion about strategies that address the problems of the current system. It also will lay the foundation for further discussion and identify key issues around which we might leverage resources of the MIT community to have an impact. Future HealthCare forums are in development, which might explore experiences in Oregon or other regions, debate a pilot program for a local area, review consumer healthcare projects, or explore the most effective way to roll out new technologies on both the treatment and administrative side of health care.

Moderator: Joanne Spetz, Ph.D .Associate Professor School of Nursing at UCSF, and Associate Director Center for California Health Workforce Studies. Member of MITCNC Board of Directors.

Panelists:

· Harold S. Luft, PhD, Director of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute (PAMFRI), and Professor of Health Policy and Health Economics at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco

· James G. Kahn, PhD, Professor at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, the AIDS Research Institute, and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, all at UCSF.

$25 pre-registration, $35 day of the event

Description:

Moderator:

Joanne Spetz, Ph.D .Associate Professor, School of Nursing, and Associate Director, Center for California Health Workforce Studies. UCSF

Joanne’s areas of expertise include nursing labor markets, hospital industry structure and finance, quality of patient care, information technologies, cost-effectiveness analysis, and econometrics. She has led surveys of California registered nurses and nursing schools, evaluations of programs to expand the supply of nurses, research on the effects of health information technologies in hospitals, studies of hospital industry structure, and analysis of the effects of minimum nurse staffing regulations on patients and hospitals. Joanne was a member of the National Commission on VA Nursing, and is a member of the California Board of Registered Nursing Workforce Advisory Committee. She frequently provides testimony and technical assistance to state and federal agencies and policymakers. She has taught quantitative research methods for doctoral students, and financial management and health economics for master’s students in nursing administration and public health. Joanne received her Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University after studying economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Joanne is a Board Member for the MITCNC.

Panelists:

Harold S. Luft, PhD, is Director of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute (PAMFRI), and a Professor of Health Policy and Health Economics at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco.

Dr. Luft is an internationally renowned health economist, and the new director of the Palo Alto Medical Foundation Research Institute (PAMFRI), which focuses on health services, health policy, and clinical research. For the last 14 years, Dr. Luft has directed the UCSF School of Medicine's Institute for Health Policy Studies (recently renamed the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies). Dr. Luft first joined the UCSF faculty in 1978, and before that, he was an assistant professor at Stanford University Medical School for five years. He is a member of the Institute of Medicine and has served on numerous national health care-research advisory boards and as a former editor-in-chief of the Journal Health Services Research. He was a member of and chaired the National Advisory Council of the Agency for Health Care Policy and Research (now the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality). His research and teaching have covered a wide range of areas, including medical care utilization, health maintenance organizations, hospital market competition, quality and outcomes of hospital care, risk assessment and risk adjustment, and health care reform. He has authored or co-authored and edited a number of books and published numerous articles in scientific journals. Professor Luft received his A.B., M.A., and Ph.D. in economics (specializing in health sector economics and public finance) from Harvard University.

Dr. James G. Kahn is a Professor at the Philip R. Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies, the AIDS Research Institute, and the Department of Epidemiology and Biostatistics, all at UCSF.

Dr. Kahn is an expert in policy modeling in health care, cost-effectiveness analysis, and evidence-based medicine. His work focuses on the use of cost-effectiveness analysis to inform decision-making in public health and medicine. Dr. Kahn had done multiple studies of economic aspects of HIV prevention and care in low-income countries. He was the principal investigator for a study of the cost, outputs, impact, and cost-effectiveness of HIV prevention programs in five countries (India, Mexico, South Africa, Uganda, and Russia). He has also done HIV economic studies in Tanzania and the Baltics. Dr. Kahn’s policy research includes issues in the U.S. He was the principal investigator for HRSA-funded research on measuring unmet need for HIV primary medical care. He has conducted economic and access-to-care analyses of insurance and subsidy programs for AIDS care, drugs, and home health care, including expanding Medicaid to cover all individuals with HIV disease.

Dr. Kahn served on a National Academies of Science / Institute of Medicine Committee on the Public Financing and Delivery of HIV Care. Dr. Kahn has estimated the magnitude and components of billing and insurance-related administrative costs in U.S. health care. He also conducts cost-effectiveness analyses in reproductive health (pregnancy and STD prevention) and other disease areas. He is the lead instructor in cost-effectiveness analysis in the medical school at UCSF. Dr. Kahn is currently focusing on developing the capabilities at UCSF for collaborative work on global health economics and policy, and on policy issues in translating basic science findings into clinical research, and then into widespread clinical practice.

11:00 am Route Orientation/Waivers

11:30 am Prompt Departure!!

Organizer (RSVP for Important Info)

Ken Fujimoto '88 knfemail-bike@yahoo.com

Ride one of the most beautiful routes in the country and have intelligent conversation (it can't be helped) along the way. But wait - there's more... Food! We setup the schedule to have a leisurely lunch at Sam’s, a true Bay Area institution. And it's as easy as riding a bike.

Join us for the 11th Annual MITCNC bike trip for both the dedicated and the leisurely type bike riders. The route is about 15 miles. We'll be starting at Pier 41, going through the aquatic park, Fort Mason, Presidio Park, over the Golden Gate bridge, downtown Sausalito and then near the water all the way to Tiburon. Just about everyone should arrive in Tiburon by 2:30 leaving time for a leisurely lunch (self-hosted) on the patio at Sam’s before taking the 4:40 ferry back to Pier 41. The ferry ticket for adults is $9.00, for children $5.00.

To accommodate bikers of various skill levels, there will be two groups composed of "weekend warriors" and "recreational" bikers. Please indicate with your RSVP if you are interested in the “advanced” group who plan to go up through Corte Madera, Larkspur and Kentfield.

For those who don't have bikes, you can rent bikes and helmets at the Blazing Saddles store at Pier 41. Their phone number is (415) 202-8888 and their web page is http://www.bikethebridge.com. The bike rentals run around $28-$48 day depending on what type of bike you want. Relatively inexpensive parking in the area can be found at Pier 29, and Green and Embarcadero.

The MIT Club of Northern California and organizers do not assume any responsibility for any personal injuries or property damage suffered during this event. Cycling is a sport that has inherent risks. Each participant is entirely responsible for being aware of these risks and taking necessary precautions.

Every cyclist must wear a helmet. The following items will be useful during the bike ride: water bottles, sun block, snack food, money to spend along the way (e.g., at restaurants), sweater (to wear on the ferry ride back).