An Inside Look at the Economics of Health Care in Central New York. What are the Drivers & Answers to Rising Costs?

March 27, 2008, Sponsored by the Health Advancement Collaborative of Central New York  

Presenters in Order of Appearance

Welcome & Overview, Stephen McCormick, Senior Plant Manager, Anheuser-Busch, and James Tifft, MD, Associated Gastroenterologists of CNY

Keynote, Thomas Dennison, PhD, Professor of Practice & Advisor, Health

Services Management & Policy Program, Maxwell School of Citizenship and

Public Affairs, Syracuse University

Moderator, Paul Muoio, President, Benefit Specialists of New York

Business/Employer Panel

Speaker: Stephen McCormick, Senior Plant Manager, Anheuser-Busch

Response Panel:  Robert Didio, Director, Human Resources, L. & J.G. Stickley Audi Inc. , Orrin MacMurray, President, C&S Engineers, John Palmer, SU, Distinguished University Professorship. Dean Emeritus, Michael Warner, Chief Operating Officer, ClearPath Diagnostics

Physician Panel

Speaker: James Tifft, MD, Associated Gastroenterologists of CNY

Response Panel: Thomas Bersani, MD, President, Onondaga County Medical Society, David Duggan, MD, FACP, Professor & Chair, Department of Medicine, Associate Vice President & Associate Dean, Clinical Initiatives, SUNY Upstate Medical University, David Page, MD, President, Familycare Medical Group PC, Robert Weisenthal, MD, CNY Eye Care

Hospital Panel

Speaker: Dan Sisto, President, HANYS

Response Panel: Paul Kronenberg, MD, President & CEO, Crouse Hospital, Theodore Pasinski, President, Saint Joseph's Hospital Health Center, Phillip Schaengold, Senior Vice President for Hospital Affairs, SUNY Upstate Medical University and CEO, Upstate Medical University Hospital, Thomas Quinn, President & CEO, Community General Hospital

Insurance Panel

Speaker: Leslie Moran, Senior Vice President, NY Health Plan Association

Response Panel: Mark Fish, Executive Vice President, Network Management, MVP Health Care, Alan Murray, Vice President, NY Market Lead, UnitedHealth Networks, Robert Pomfrey, President & CEO, POMCO Group, Arthur Vercillo, MD, Vice President, Chief Medical Officer, Excellus BCBS

Summary, Thomas Dennison, PhD

Health Advancement Collaborative of Central New York

• Presentation on Health Information Technology to American College off Physicians
• Overview of the Health Advancement Collaborative of Central New York
• Thomas Dennison, PhD. Professor of Practice & Advisor, Health Services Management & Policy Keynote Address
• Stephen McCormick, Senior Plant Manager, Anheuser-Busch, Business Perspective

March 27, 2008 Economics of Health Care Forum, Syracuse, NY. 

• James Tifft, MD, Associated Gastroenterologists of CNY, Physician Perspective
• Dan Sisto, President, Hospital Association of New York, Hospital Perspective
• Leslie Moran, Senior Vice President, NY Health Plan Association, Insurance Perspective 

May 1 2007. Pharmacy Costs in the Workplace: Management Trends and Tactics.  Forum sponsored by the Health Advancement Collaborative of Central New York.              

• Employer Rx Benefits: Challenges and Opportunities, Joel Owerbach, Pharm. D.
• Managing Pharmacy Benefits: Treading the Needle between the Control of Costs and Unintended Consequences, David. F. Lehmann, MD, Pharm. D. 
• How Generics Can Save You Money.  Dan J. Villa, R.PH. 
•  Pharmacy Costs: Contributing Factors & Strategies, James Hopsicker, R.Ph., MBA
• A Pharmacist's View, Allen Krassenbaum, RPh
• Small Business Perspective, Michael Warner

September 2007.  Health Information Exchange (HIE) Privacy Summit:  Policy Options and Implications, Co-sponsored by RHIOs of Upstate New York Unite (R-UNYT) and The New York eHelath Collaborative (NYeC)

• New York Health Information Security and Privacy Collaboration (NY HISPC), Ellen Fink, Project Director, NYS Department of Health
• Privacy Issues in HIE – Legal Dimensions & Implications, Gerry Hickey, Partner, Davis Wright Tremaine LLP
• Physician Perspective, Patricia Hale, MD, PhD, FACP, Vice Chair (then), NYeC
• Business Perspective, Stephen McCormick, Senior Plant Manager, Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

Articles related to Health Information Technology

• Evidence on the Costs and Benefits of Health Information Technology, Congressional Budget Office, May 2008
  
• The Value Of Electronic Health Records In Solo Or Small Group Practices.  Miller et al. Health Affairs.2005; 24: 1127-1137
  
• Improving the quality of healthcare through health information exchange - selected findings from eHealth Initiative's third annual survey of health information exchange activities at the state, regional, and local levels.  September 25, 2006. eHealth Initiative
• State eHealth Activities in 2007. Findings from a State Survey  Commonwealth Fund
• Personal Health Records and Personal Health Record Systems. 
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health, National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention 

Articles & Resources on Sustainability of Health Information Technology

• eHealth Initiative, Value & Sustainability Model & Toolkit
• Creating Sustainable Local Health Information Exchanges: Can Barriers to Stakeholder Participation be Overcome? Center for Studying Health System Change, Research Brief: Feb.2008:2
• State E-Health Activities in 2007: Findings from a State Survey.  Commonwealth Fund, February 15, 2008

Articles Related to Health Care Costs

• Presentation to the National Governors Association's Health and Human Services Committee.  The Outlook for Spending: Health Care and Long Term Care, Congresisonal Budget Office, February, 2008.
• Geographic Variation in Health Care Spending, Congresisonal Budget Office, February, 2008.
• Technology Change and the Growth of Health Care Spending. Congresisonal Budget Office, January, 2008.
• Research on the Comparative Effectiveness of Medical Treatments:  Issues and Options for an Expanded Federal Role. Congresisonal Budget Office, December, 2007.
• The Long-Term Outlook for Health Care Spending, Congresisonal Budget Office, November, 2008.
• Health Care Spending and the Medicare Program, MedPac July, 2007.
• Report to Congress, Medicare Payment Policy , MedPac March, 2008. 
• States in Action: A Bimonthly Look at Innovations in Health Policy, February/March 2008  
• Bending the Curve:  Options for Achieving Savings and Improving Value in U.S. Health Spending, The Commonwealth Fund, December 2007.

Prescription Drugs

• Prescription Drug Trends Fact Sheet - May 2007 Update, Kaiser Family Foundation
  
• The Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit - An Updated Fact Sheet

Health Care

• Unhealthy Trends: The Future of Physician Services. Health Affairs, 26, no. 6, 2007.
• Achieving a High-Performing Health Care System with Universal Access: What the United States Can Learn from Other Countries. Annals of Internal Medicine. 2008:148.
• States in Action: A Bimonthly Look at Innovations in Health Care. Commonwealth Fund, February 27, 2008

Physician Supply

• The Impending Collapse of Primary Car Medicine and Its Implications for the State of the Nation's Health Care: A Report from the American College of Physicians, January 30, 2006

Web Sites to Watch

The following websites regularly present new articles on health care research, policy and practice.

• The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• The Commonwealth Foundation
• The Kaiser Family Foundation
• The Institute of Medicine
• The Journal of Health Affairs
• The New England Journal of Medicine
• The American College of Physicians
• The American Medical Society
• The eHealth Initiative
• The Congressional Budget Office
• The Centers for Medicare and Medicare
• MedPac
• The Centers for Disease Control
• The National Center for Health Statistics
• Center for Studying Health System Change