Conversations About Healthcare Reform
Sponsored by Intermountain Healthcare, the Healthy Dialogues lecture series brings together national health policy experts and Utah leaders to discuss local solutions for the challenges facing America's medical system. Recently, Utah leaders joined us for a conversation about the healthcare debate with Michael O. Leavitt, former U.S. Secretary, Health and Human Services and former governor for the state of Utah.
Michael O. Leavitt
June 25, 2009
Former Secretary Michael O. Leavitt was elected three times as governor of Utah (1993-2003). In 2003, he was appointed a member of President George W. Bush's cabinet, serving as the 10th head of the Environmental Protection Agency (2003-2005) and the 20th secretary of Health and Human Services (2005-2009). As governor, Leavitt was elected chairman of the National Governors Association, and the Republican Governors and the Western Governors associations. During his eleven years as governor, independent public policy analysts named Utah six times as America's best-managed state.
Hear former Sec. Leavitt's presentation in its entirety by downloading this mp3 file:
NOTE: The file is large (30.2 MB) and could take several minutes to download.
Past Healthy Dialogues Speakers
Past speakers have included Newt Gingrich, Dr. Elliott Fisher, Dr. Mark Chassin, Dr. Ken Kizer, and Dr. Bradley Perkins. A copy of any past presentation is available through the Communications Department of Intermountain Healthcare, by calling (801) 442-2836.
Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP
February 4, 2009
Dr. Berwick is president and CEO of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement, a not-for-profit organziation dedicated to innovative change in healthcare worldwide. He continues to serve as a clinical professor of pediatrics and Health Care Policy in the Department of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School, and he is professor of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health. In addition, Dr. Berwick is adjunct staff in the Department of Medicine at Children's Hospital Boston, and a consultant in pediatrics at Massachusetts General Hospital.
Hear Dr. Berwick's presentation in its entirety by downloading this mp3 file:
NOTE: The file is large (41.5 MB) and could take several minutes to download.
Review highlights of Dr. Berwick's discussion through his presentation slideshow:
Newt Gingrich
October 29, 2008
Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives, discussed national health reform efforts and praised Intermountain during his keynote presentation to Utah leaders, calling Intermountain one of the country's "centers of brilliance."
Gingrich is founder of the nonpartisan Center for Health Transformation, a high-impact collaboration of private and public sector leaders committed to creating a 21st-century health system. During his visit to Salt Lake City, Gingrich detailed his plan for healthcare reform, some of which was modeled on Intermountain's successes in implementing evidence-based clinical protocols and the development of electronic medical records.
Highlights of Gingrich's presentation:
Hear his presentation in its entirety by downloading this mp3 file:
NOTE: The file is large (16.6 MB) and could take several minutes to download.
Bradley A. Perkins, MD, MBA
April 29, 2008
Dr. Perkins was in Utah as a guest of the Utah Department of Health. While in Salt Lake City, Dr. Perkins addressed policy implications of prevention in managing rising healthcare costs on a state level in the April presentation of the Healthy Dialogues speakers series. He provided suggestions about what really works in prevention, and explored ways health policy reformers can use government resources to impact health and rising healthcare costs.
The chief strategy and innovation officer at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, where he has served since 1989, Dr. Perkins is considered "a catalyst for CDC efforts to influence health system transformation in ways that emphasize health protection and health equity through policy interventions and multi-sector and public engagement."
Ken Kizer, MD, MPH
January 24, 2008
Dr. Kizer discussed the key questions policy makers should be asking to find solutions to the challenges facing America's healthcare system. He suggested creating a vision for what an ideal healthcare system might look like, and laid out concrete ideas about developing that system.
From 1994-1999, Dr. Kizer led a dramatic transformation of the Veterans Administration hospital system—one of the world's largest health organizations with an annual budget of more than $20 billion, approximately 200,000 employees, and more than 1,300 facilities. As Under Secretary for Health in the U.S. Department of Veteran's Affairs, he used information technology and best practice guidelines to significantly cut costs while improving medical quality and outcomes. He has also served as the director of the California Department of Health Services and director of the National Quality Forum.
Mark Chassin, MD, MPP, MPH
October 24, 2007
Dr. Chassin addressed Utah policymakers, community leaders, healthcare providers, and the public as the keynote speaker in Intermountain Healthcare's Healthy Dialogues speaker series. Dr. Chassin is the incoming president of the Joint Commission.
True reform, Dr. Chassin said, will mean significant change in each of the three dimensions of healthcare: cost, quality, and access.
- Cost. American healthcare is the most expensive in the world, Dr. Chassin said, and it has been for more than four decades. Furthermore, globalization and competition are making America's healthcare cost structure increasingly untenable.
- Access. Universal health insurance must be part of the goal of health reform, Dr. Chassin said. There is a demonstrable link between a lack of health insurance and poor health, he said, and poor health takes a heavy toll on a nation.
- Quality. America is a wealthy nation, and higher costs for healthcare and universal health coverage might be acceptable if the United States had the highest-quality care in the world. But it doesn't, Dr. Chassin said.
America already spends enough money on healthcare to provide effective care for all, Dr. Chassin said, including those who are currently uninsured. What it needs is a "quality-driven health strategy" that addresses issues of medical overuse (doing more than is medically necessary/appropriate), under-use (the failure to provide a service when it would have helped), and misuse (medical mistakes).
Elliott Fisher, MD, MPH
July 19, 2007
Dr. Elliott Fisher spoke in July in Salt Lake City as the first guest presenter in Intermountain's Healthy Dialogues series. As the director of the Institute for Health Care Research and Reform in Dartmouth's Center for the Evaluative Clinical Sciences, he has been a leader in the university's Atlas of Health Care research project. He also serves as co-chair of the National Quality Forum committee that is developing a framework for measuring and improving efficiency in healthcare.
Citing a study of Medicare patients that focused on effectiveness of care, Dr. Fisher noted that the average expenditure per patient at LDS Hospital was less than half the expenditures at leading hospitals in California, New York, and Baltimore—with equal or superior quality. He said this finding prompted Uwe Reinhardt, professor of Economics and Public Affairs at Princeton University, to ask: "How can the best medical care in the world cost twice as much as the best medical care in the world?"
Providing the right care does not mean providing the most care, according to Dr. Fisher. "Higher spending across regions and physician groups is largely due to overuse of supply-sensitive services—hospital and ICU stays, MD visits, specialist consults—and, at the margin, more is worse," he said.
If you have been invited to attend this event you can register online: