Tuesday, May 05, 2009

Sustaining health care reform in MA -- for students

Dan Kennedy was kind to send me notice of the following session by the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston. This is one of a series called Boston 101, informal discussions about the people, institutions, and customs that make Greater Boston what it is. The series brings in notable figures from a variety of fields. These events are open to all, but are specifically geared towards students in Greater Boston who are just getting to know this great region.

The Challenge of Sustaining Health Care Reform in Massachusetts
Thursday, May 7 from 8:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.
Federal Reserve Bank of Boston,
600 Atlantic Avenue, Boston

RSVP TO Polly O'Brien at 617-495-5091 or polly [at] rappaportinstitute [dot] org. THE EVENT IS FREE BUT YOU MUST REGISTER. Government-issued photo ID is required for admittance to the building. Please allow sufficient time to pass through security. A light breakfast will be available at 8 a.m.

Opening Remarks
The State of Healthcare Reform in Massachusetts
Dr. Judy Ann Bigby, MA Secretary of Health and Human Services

Overview Presentation
Can We Use Local Benchmarks to Reduce the Cost and Improve the Quality of Healthcare in Greater Boston?
Katherine Baicker, Professor, Harvard School of Public Health
Amitabh Chandra, Professor, Harvard Kennedy School

Panel Discussions

Can We Implement Opportunities to Improve the Value of Healthcare?
Sarah Iselin, Commissioner, MA Division of Health Care Finance and Policy
Stephanie Lovell, VP and General Counsel, Boston Medical Center
Delia Vetter, Sr. Director of Benefits, EMC Corp.

Moderated by David Cutler, Acting Director of the Harvard Program for Health Systems Improvement and Otto Eckstein of Professor of Applied Economics

Can We Build Support for Opportunities to Improve the Value of Healthcare?

Jarrett Barrios, President, Blue Cross/Blue Shield Foundation
Jon Kingsdale, Executive Director, Commonwealth Connector
Amy Slemmer, Executive Director, Health Care for All

Moderated by David Ellwood, Dean, Harvard Kennedy School

Closing Remarks
David Ellwood, Dean, Harvard Kennedy School

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I saw that you laid off 70 people but there wasn't much detail about what sorts of jobs were targeted. Care to elaborate?

Anonymous said...

A variety of positions all across the hospital, excluding the lower wage workers like transporters, housekeepers, and food service workers. A much better result than the 600 we anticipated just a few weeks ago, thanks to everybody pitching in to help their fellow workers.