Transparency in Healthcare - Advantages and Stumbling Blocks 

Health Lawyers' Fall 2006 Conversations with Policymakers Teleconference Series
Date: Wednesday, November 8, 2006
Time: 1:30-2:30 pm Eastern (12:30-1:30 pm Central; 11:30 am-12:30 pm Mountain; 10:30-11:30 am Pacific)
Sponsors: American Health Lawyers Association Public Interest Committee and the Healthcare Financial Management Association

Registration Information

The $25 registration fee for each teleconference will pay for a connection charge and allow as many individuals as would like to participate on a speaker phone for that site. Register online or call Member Service Center at (202) 833-1100. Registrations must be received by 5:00 pm Eastern on Wednesday, November 1st.

Description

The Bush administration has embraced transparency in cost and quality of health care services as a means of bringing long-term improvement to the healthcare system. The goal of increased transparency is to promote and reward competition between providers based on quality and efficiency. Advocates believe that transparency will improve provider performance by allowing insurers and businesses to compare quality measurements when negotiating reimbursement and selecting providers for networks. Transparency champions also believe that increased transparency will educate consumers so that they can make informed choices about their own care.

This Conversations with Policymakers teleconference will feature Julie L. Goon, Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy, who will provide the administration's perspective on the imperative to improve transparency. Julie is the principal adviser on transparency issues in the White House. She will be joined by Kristin Welsh, Senior Director, Executive Branch Relations from the American Hospital Association, who will discuss the provider community's perspective on the costs and benefits of transparency. She will discuss the need to create comparable and fair measurement systems in a more transparent healthcare marketplace.

Speakers

Julie L. Goon
Special Assistant to the President for Economic Policy
Washington, DC

Kristin Welsh
American Hospital Association, Senior Director, Executive Branch Relations
Washington, DC

Moderator

Timothy P. Blanchard, Esquire
McDermott Will & Emery
Los Angeles, CA