"What Systems Work in Healthcare and Why?" is Focus of ECRI Institute's 19th Annual Health Policy Conference

ECRI Institute's free public service conference to be held Nov. 28-29 in Washington, DC;
Cosponsored by the Veterans Administration, Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, Health Affairs, the University of Pennsylvania, and the Milbank Memorial Fund

PLYMOUTH MEETING, Pa., Nov. 2, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Today's healthcare systems face escalating challenges as they aggregate into larger and more complex health systems that are vertically and horizontally integrated. The trend is being driven by both business conditions and new government policies. But are the new systems producing better clinical and business outcomes?    

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ECRI Institute's 19th Annual Conference on the Use of Evidence in Policy and Practice, Creating "Systemness" within Healthcare Delivery: Can Success be Proven and Shared? seeks to determine which elements of more mature healthcare systems result in improved outcomes, and whether or not the microsystems within these long-established health systems are transferable to smaller, newer, or less integrated systems.

The free public service conference will be held Nov. 28-29, 2012, in Washington, DC, at the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Conference Center at L'Enfant Plaza; advance registration is required as space is limited.

"This conference will be an important step towards encouraging healthcare systems to evaluate what is working for them and what is working for others by examining the evidence," says ECRI Institute President and CEO Jeffrey C. Lerner, PhD.

Nearly 50 distinguished speakers are confirmed, including Alide Chase, Senior VP, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan; John Colmers, VP, Health Care Transformation and Strategic Planning, Johns Hopkins Health System; Patrick Conway,  MD, MSc, CMO, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services; Susan Dentzer, Editor-in-Chief, Health Affairs; George C. Halvorson, Chairman and CEO, Kaiser Permanente; Joel Kupersmith, MD, Chief Research and Development Officer, Veterans Health Administration; Sarah Krevans, MBA, MPH, COO, Sutter Health; Warren Lockette, MD, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense, Clinical and Program Policy; Chief Medical Officer, TRICARE Management Activity, U.S. Department of Defense; Ralph Muller, CEO, University of Pennsylvania Health System; Jonathan Perlin, MD, PhD, President, Clinical and Physician Services Group and Chief Medical Officer, HCA, Inc.; Robert A. Petzel, MD, Under Secretary for Health, Department of Veterans Affairs; Joe V. Selby, MD, MPH, Executive Director, Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute; Paul C. Tang, MD, MS, Vice President, Chief Innovation and Technology Officer, Palo Alto Medical Foundation; Margaret VanAmringe, MHS, VP for Public Policy and Government Relations, The Joint Commission; and Gail Wilensky, PhD, John M. Olin Senior Fellow, Project Hope.

Panel-based sessions span a broad range of issues, including financial incentives, transformation centers, electronic health records, the changing locus of care, federal and state incentives, evidence-based business management, regulatory and legal issues affecting systems, and more.  Question-and-answer sessions give attendees the opportunity to participate in the deliberations.  

Senior leaders from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, Kaiser Permanente, Sutter Health, Health Affairs, the Milbank Memorial Fund, and the Leonard Davis Institute of Health Economics at the University of Pennsylvania played key roles in planning the program intended for multiple healthcare constituencies, including payers and providers, policymakers, researchers, industry, government regulators, and consumer groups.

​ECRI Institute is accredited by the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education to provide continuing medical education for physicians and designates this live activity for a maximum of 13.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)™. This activity has been approved for 13.0 California State Nursing contact hours and by the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania's Continuing Legal Education Board for up to a total of 13 credits: 1 ethics and 12 substantive credits. Visit the CEU site for details.

There is no fee to attend this program, but space is limited to 350 attendees and early registration is strongly recommended. ECRI Institute will offer live updates from the event on Twitter at #EIConf12. Press credentials are available for those wishing to cover the conference or interview presenters. For conference details and to register, visit www.ecri.org/2012conf.

For additional information, contact ECRI Institute by e-mail at [email protected], call Laurie Menyo, Director of Public Relations at (610) 825-6000, ext. 5310, or write to 5200 Butler Pike, Plymouth Meeting, PA 19462.

ECRI Institute (www.ecri.org), a nonprofit organization, dedicates itself to bringing the discipline of applied scientific research to healthcare to discover which medical procedures, devices, drugs, and processes are best to enable improved patient care. As pioneers in this science for nearly 45 years, ECRI Institute marries experience and independence with the objectivity of evidence-based research. Strict conflict-of-interest guidelines ensure objectivity. ECRI Institute is designated as an Evidence-based Practice Center by the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. ECRI Institute PSO is listed as a federally certified Patient Safety Organization by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

SOURCE ECRI Institute