Experts Discuss High Value Health Benefit Strategies and Employer Solutions to Health Care's Transformation at Tenth Annual Forum Sponsored by The Presidents' Partnership of MemorialCare Health System

ORANGE COUNTY, Calif., May 15, 2014 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Health industry experts and more than 160 corporate executives participated in a forum on high value health benefit strategies and employer solutions to health care's transformation on Wednesday May 14 at the Orange County Hilton in Costa Mesa. Sponsored by The Presidents' Partnership of MemorialCare Health System, the half-day event featured leaders from the health care, insurance, not-for-profit and business sectors.

"Our goal was to provide business leaders with the latest information about our changing health care landscape," says Barry Arbuckle, Ph.D., president and CEO of MemorialCare Health System and past chair of California Hospital Association. "The annual Presidents' Partnership helps employers better understand the opportunities and options they have to improve employee health and lower health care costs."

Participating in the panel discussion was Sandy Ageloff, US west division leader of health & group benefits at Towers Watson, a benefits consulting firm; Jeff Shapiro, vice president of enterprise benefits at The Walt Disney Company; and Mark Schafer, MD, chief executive officer at MemorialCare Medical Foundation, a nonprofit public benefit corporation and part of MemorialCare Health System. Rick Reiff, host and executive producer of 'So Cal Insider' on PBS So Cal TV, and executive editor for the Orange County Business Journal moderated the discussion.

David Lansky, PhD, president & CEO of the Pacific Business Group on Health, a nonprofit business coalition focused on health care, was the keynote speaker. "Engaging consumers in their health care so they improve their health behaviors, and incentivizing health care providers to use evidence based practice, manage to outcomes and increase transparency are some of the most powerful strategies to achieve better value health care," according to Dr. Lansky. 

"As health care reform evolves, leading employers are seeking innovative strategies such as implementing employee wellness programs and participating in high value health care networks with the goal of lowering health care costs and improving quality," adds Dr. Arbuckle. "MemorialCare hosts the Presidents' Partnership each year to bring business leaders together and provide various perspectives with a diverse panel of speakers."

MemorialCare Health System, a not-for-profit integrated delivery system with more than 11,000 employees and 2,600 physicians, includes six top hospitals—Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, Miller Children's Hospital Long Beach, Community Hospital Long Beach, Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center and Saddleback Memorial Medical Center in Laguna Hills and San Clemente; medical groups—MemorialCare Medical Group and Greater Newport Physicians; ambulatory surgery centers and numerous outpatient health facilities throughout the Southland. An innovator in health care delivery, MemorialCare focuses on evidence-based, best practice medicine where physicians and health professionals study best clinical practices and implement them at MemorialCare's sites with outcomes frequently exceeding state and national averages. For more information, visit memorialcare.org.

SOURCE MemorialCare Health System