The Dollars and Sense of Prevention: A Primer for Health Policy Makers

June 8 Conference Will Expolore Potential of Prevention to Add Value to the Health System

News Release
May 27, 2009

FURTHER INFORMATION, CONTACT:
Alwyn Cassil (202) 264-3484 or acassil@hschange.org

WASHINGTON, DC—The role of prevention in the health system will be the focus of a Center for Studying Health System Change (HSC) conference on June 8f—the third of four HSC conferences on health policy topics sponsored by the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance and the American College of Preventive Medicine.

Preventing chronic disease is often cited as a way to slow U.S. health care spending growth—or at least generate better value for the $2.2 trillion spent annually on health care in the United States. The public and policy makers often receive mixed messages about the costs and benefits of prevention and chronic care management. As health care reform moves forward, the role of prevention and improved care management in a revamped U.S. health system is a key issue for policy makers to understand.

Moderated by HSC President Paul B. Ginsburg, Ph.D., the conference, titled "The Dollars and Sense of Prevention: A Primer for Health Policy Makers," will convene with a keynote address by Steven H. Woolf, M.D., M.P.H., professor of family medicine, Virginia Commonwealth University, and lead author of "The Economic Argument for Disease Prevention: Distinguishing Between Value and Savings."

The keynote will be followed by an expert panel that will discuss why many patients don't receive appropriate preventive care; how coverage and benefit structures affect patient access and adherence to recommended care; and how the Congressional Budget Office scores proposals for preventive services. Panelists include: Jason Spangler, M.D., M.P.H., managing senior fellow, Partnership for Prevention; A. Mark Fendrick, M.D., professor, internal medicine and health management and policy, University of Michigan; and Chapin White, Ph.D., analyst, Congressional Budget Office.

The June 8 conference will be held from 9 a.m. to noon, with a continental breakfast at 8:30 a.m., at the Marriott at Metro Center, Washington, D.C. To register online for the conference, please visit http://www.hschange.org/index.cgi?conf=show&what=26.

The conference is the third of four conferences organized and conducted by HSC and sponsored by PhRMA, DMAA: The Care Continuum Alliance and the American College of Preventive Medicine. Under the sponsorship arrangement, HSC and the three sponsoring organizations jointly choose the conference topics, while HSC is solely responsible for organizing and conducting the conferences.

The Center for Studying Health System Change is a nonpartisan policy research organization committed to providing objective and timely research on the nation's changing health system to help inform policy makers and contribute to better health care policy. HSC, based in Washington, D.C., is funded principally by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and is affiliated with Mathematica Policy Research, Inc.