(Mike Evans - EHC Board President.) |
Wow, what a conference! The FIRST Employers’ Health Coalition Annual Conference finished up mid-day on Friday, September 26, 2008 with overwhelmingly enthusiastic comments from attendees who were “amazed” at the quality of the speakers, topics and information. |
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Truly, the speakers were the preeminent leaders in their areas of expertise; most notable, Joe Thompson, MD MPH, Arkansas Surgeon General and Mark Fendrick, MD, the architect of Value-Based Healthcare. The previous day Dr. Fendrick was meeting with Secretary of Health and Human Services Levitt and key advisors to the McCain and Obama campaigns at the National Institute of Health in Washington, DC. Andy Webber, CEO of the National Business Coalition on Health, Jerry Custer, the founder of Refuse to Misuse and several other great speakers cowmpleted this elite roster. |
(Dr. Mark Fendrick - University of Michigan) |
(Dr. Joe Thompson - AR Surgeon General) |
VALUE BASED HEALTHCARE, this year’s conference theme, was a somewhat unfamiliar concept to most attendees. But acceptance of the key tenants expressed by the thought leaders and the simplicity of the model seem to really take hold in the minds of the attendees. Removing barriers to care and paying for HEALTH; what could be simpler? |
Just as exciting was the broad spectrum of attendees which included representatives from local and state government, hospital and physician group leaders from across the state, physicians, educators, clergy, health plans, repricers, pharma, PBM’s and, of course our members from Fort Smith and Hot Springs and other non-member employers.
A special note of thanks goes out to all of our sponsors and exhibitors. Congratulations to all the winners of sponsor door prizes, and especially to Bev Gillstrap from the University of Arkansas Fort Smith, the winner of the 42 inch LCD television. We look forward to a bigger and better conference (and seeing you there) next year.