8:15 a.m.

Plenary Session: Bush Administration's Health Policy Agenda
Key officials will address the Bush Administration's 2003 health policy agenda.

Speakers:

• Thomas Scully, CMS
  
• Mark McClellan, FDA

Trends in Health Care: Challenges
and Implications
Chairman and CEO of one of the nation's largest health insurers will discuss the major health care trends and how they're reshaping health care.

Speaker:

• Leonard Schaeffer, WellPoint Health Networks

Breakout Sessions

Incremental Improvements to Expand Insurance Coverage
This panel will address many of the incremental approaches Congress and state legislators are considering to address the growing number of uninsured Americans, including tax credits, Medicaid expansions, and insurance regulation.

Moderator:

• Karen Davis, President, Commonwealth Fund

Speakers:

• Stuart Butler, Heritage Foundation
  
• Ron Pollack, Families USA

Organizing to Confront Terrorism
This session will focus on responses of the federal government, states and localities to the threat of terrorism. The concept of "dual use" and the central role of communicating risk will be explored.

Moderator:

• Kenneth Shine, Director, RAND Center for Domestic and International Security

Speakers:

• George Gray, Harvard School of Public Health
  
• Jerome Hauer, HHS Office of Public Health Preparedness
  
• Patricia Quinlisk, Iowa Department of Public Health

Hospitals and the Unintended Effects of Regulation
While hospital regulation may be well-intended and seek to improve patient care, the immediate impact can increase expenses and add to the workload. . This panel of hospital executives and industry experts will discuss the impact of HIPAA, EMTALA, and quality initiatives.

Moderator:

• Uwe Reinhardt, Princeton University

Speakers:

• David Bernd, Sentara Healthcare
  
• Bruce Cummings, Olean General Hospital
  
• A.J. Rice, Merrill Lynch

Speaker:

• Uwe Reinhardt, Princeton University

Breakout Sessions

Reinventing the Health Care Workplace
In light of shortages of key positions in the clinical workforce, this panel will present innovative approaches for reinventing the work environment to improve recruitment and retention.

Moderator:

• Bobbi Kimball, Health Workforce Solutions, and co-author Robert Wood Johnson Foundation report, Health Care's Human Crisis: The American Nursing Shortage

Speakers:

• Karen Drenkard, Inova Health System
  
• Jeanette Ives Erickson, Massachusetts General Hospital
  
• Louis Cobuzzi, Veterans Health Administration

Medicare Modernization
This panel will discuss incremental improvements to the Medicare program that can achieve bipartisan support in the areas of governance, administration, benefits, and coverage and payment policies.

Moderator:

• Bob Berenson, AcademyHealth

Speakers:

• Sheila Burke, Smithsonian Institution, and former Chief of Staff, Senator Robert Dole
  
• Nancy-Ann DeParle, former HCFA Administrator
• Glenn Hackbarth, MedPAC

Strategies for Promoting Healthy Lifestyles
Both the public and the private sectors have a vested interest in promoting healthy lifestyles, including reducing tobacco use and its impact on health and health care. This panel will discuss health promotion strategies used by employers, health plans, and national campaigns.

Moderator:

• Jo Ivey Boufford, New York University, and chair of the IOM Report "Assuring the Health of the Public for the 21st Century"

Speakers:

• Cheryl G. Healton, American Legacy Foundation
  
• Joseph Leutzinger, Union Pacific Railroad
  
• Nico Pronk, Health Partners Research Foundation

Public Perception of Key Health Issues

Speaker:

• Bob Blendon, Harvard University

Announcement of Covering the Uninsured Week

Speaker:

• Bob Ross, The California Endowment
  Cover the Uninsured Week

Plenary Session:
Congressional Health Policy Agenda

Speaker:

• Senator Max Baucus, D-MT

Panel:

• Debbie Curtis, Office of Rep. Stark D-CA
  
• John McManus, Health Subcommittee, House Ways & Means
• Elizabeth Fowler, Senate Finance Committee
  
• Dean Rosen, Public Health Subcommittee; Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions

Speaker:

• Senator John Breaux, D-LA

Break

Breakout Sessions

State Efforts to Control Medicaid Pharmaceutical Spending
Two state Medicaid directors will share their experiences controlling pharmaceutical spending.

Moderator:

• Vernon Smith, Health Management Associates

Speakers:

• Peggy Handrich, Wisconsin Medicaid Director
  
• Ray Hanley, Arkansas Medicaid Director

Role of Employers in Lowering Costs & Improving Quality
This session will focus on understanding the goals, strategies, and activities of leading employers in their concerted multifaceted drive to improve quality of care, save lives and empower consumers.

Moderator:

• Arnold Milstein, William Mercer, Inc.

Speakers:

• Vincent Kerr, Ford Motor Company
  
• Steve Sleigh, International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers

Critical Issues for Long-Term Care
Beginning with an overview of the state of long-term care in 2003, panelists will focus on the long-term care challenges facing public and private decision makers: work force, public and private financing, and quality.

Moderator:

• Judith Feder, Georgetown University

Speakers:

• LaRhae Knatterud, Minnesota Department of Human Services
  
• Carol Raphael, Visiting Nurse Service of New York
  
• John Williams, Director, Long Term Care Unit, Utah Medicaid Program
  

Luncheon Plenary Session: Political Commentary - The Impact of Mid-term Elections on the Policy Agenda
With the results of the 2002 mid-term elections decided, experts will comment on key health policy issues for the 108th Congress.

Speakers:

• Thomas Mann, Brookings Institution
  
• Norm Ornstein, American Enterprise Institute

Research Agenda from the 2003 Policy Conference
This closing panel will review the policy issues discussed during the conference and explore how health services research can contribute with policy relevant research.

Moderators:

• David Helms

Speakers:

• Ann Barry Flood, HSR and Dartmouth Medical School
• Carolyn Clancy, AHRQ
  
• Nicole Lurie, RAND