No Easy Cure

Brown and Providence Journal present symposium on health care crisis

Brown University, the Brown University School of Medicine and the Providence Journal will convene a day-long symposium on the current health care crisis Friday, March 24, 2000, at 8:30 a.m. in Sayles Hall, located on The College Green.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — Following the collapse of one major Rhode Island health insurance provider and the decision of another to withdraw from the Rhode Island market, Brown University, the Brown University School of Medicine and the Providence Journal will convene “No Easy Cure: Perspectives and Prescriptions for Rhode Island’s Health Care Crisis,” a day-long symposium about the health care crisis in the state and the nation.

The symposium, which begins with registration at 8:30 a.m. Friday, March 24, 2000, in Sayles Hall, is designed to provide legislators, policy-makers and other leaders with information about the underlying causes of the crisis and fresh thinking about possible courses of action.

“Access to affordable, high-quality health care is vitally important to every Rhode Islander, yet our health care system faces problems so complex that even experts find it difficult to know what is wrong and how it might be fixed,” said Donald Marsh, dean of medicine and biological sciences. “I believe the speakers we have invited can help define and diagnose the health care crisis, which is a necessary first step toward effective action.”

The symposium is open to the public without charge, but space is limited and advance registration is required. Persons who wish to attend should send their name, address, telephone, email address and name of the organization they represent to the symposium office by telephone (401) 863-3798; fax (401) 863-3189; or email ([email protected]).

The symposium’s keynote address will be presented by Jeff Goldsmith, president of Health Futures Inc. and associate professor of medicine at the University of Virginia School of Medicine. Goldsmith has lectured widely on health services management and health care policy. Prior to his current positions, he served as director of planning and government affairs at the University of Chicago Medical Center and as national advisor for health care at Ernst and Young.

The morning will also feature addresses by Paul Ginsburg, president of the Institute for Health Policy Solutions, and Margaret O’Kane, president of the National Committee for Quality Assurance. The afternoon will feature a panel discussion about national models for health care innovation and a discussion of models appropriate to Rhode Island.

The symposium is a public affairs service of the School of Medicine and is part of the school’s 25^th anniversary celebration.

No Easy Cure:
Perspectives and Prescriptions for Rhode Island’s Health Care Crisis

Friday, March 24, 2000
Sayles Hall on The College Green

8:30 a.m.
  Registration and coffee

9:00 a.m.
  “A National Perspective: The Case for Reorganizing and Refocusing Health Care”
  Jeff Goldsmith, President, Health Futures Inc.

10:15 a.m.
  “Dynamics of Health System Change”
  Paul Ginsburg, president, Center for Studying Health System Change

12:00 p.m.
  “Health Care Crisis in New England: One Observer’s View”
  Peggy O’Kane, president, National Committee for Quality Assurance
  (A box lunch will be provided to symposium participants)

1:00 p.m.
  National Models for State-level Innovation: A Panel Discussion
  Deborah Chollet, president, Alpha Center
  Rick Curtis, president, Institute for Health Policy Solutions
  Trish Riley, president, National Academy for State Health Policy
  Moderator: Paul Ginsburg

2:30 p.m.
  Rhode Island Models for Health System Innovation
  Christine Ferguson, director, Department of Human Services
  State Sen. Thomas Izzo
  State Rep. Gerard Martineau
  Sheldon Whitehouse, attorney general
  Moderator: Charles Fogarty, lieutenant governor