Join CityClub and learn something new this summer - like a summer reading list, only more interactive and with food, drinks and networking perks! Free for lunch? Happy hour more your speed? We've got you covered.

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Have you been changing your behavior as a consumer of news? Would you pay per story? Do you trust your neighborhood blog to give you the most accurate information? Join us for happy hour and learn about different ways local news outlets large and small are making their bottom line.

Wednesday, June 30, 2010
RAPID RESPONSE: REVENUE MODELS IN THE CHANGING MEDIA LANDSCAPE

Featuring:
Pat Balles, Seattle PI
David Boardman, Seattle Times
Cory Bergman, Next Door Media
David Brewster, Crosscut
Josh Feit, Publicola
Rita Hibbard, Investigate West
Greg Huang, Xconomy
Moderator: Hanson Hosein, Director, UW Digital Media

Do you think there's more to be done to reform the health care system? Want to know what the heads of some local hospital systems have to say? Join us for lunch and bring your own questions as we hear expert opinions on how we can redesign the delivery of care - both here and across the nation.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010
HEALTH CARE SERIES:
REDESIGNING THE DELIVERY OF CARE – A CONVERSATION WITH HEALTH CARE CEOS

Featuring:
Gary S. Kaplan, MD, FACP, FACMPE, FACPE; Chairman and CEO; Virginia Mason
Scott Armstrong, President and CEO, Group Health Cooperative
Paul G. Ramsey, MD; CEO, UW Medicine; Executive Vice President for Medical Affairs, Dean of the School of     Medicine; University of Washington
Rick Cooper, CEO, The Everett Clinic

What do you think we should ask our panelists at these forums? Send us your ideas!

Casual liveblogging - some quotes that don't fit in the Twitter feed! (Short, but sweet. Check back at our website at the end of the week for video from The Seattle Channel.)

"If you do not age deliberately, things aren't going to be as good for you as they could be." (Klein)

"The way we have control is we think about what things that are going to be bumps in the road. There always are." (Fordyce)

"What is important is if they have a plan for their lives about what to do in any of those situations with any disability including dementias, and they share that plan with their families and friends, when those crises happen they are able to bounce back from them to the extent that they can." (Fordyce)

-- Fordyce points out that in some circumstances it is significantly cheaper for someone over 75 to take a cab every single day than to pay for a car and insurance. (Based on distance, of course)

"I don't take taxis I have a driver, and the drivers on I-5 said thank god!" (Smart)

Schorr asking about "an operating system" for aging. Klein: "For me, personally, I'm a planner. But I can't adequately prepare for everything that can happen to me, so I have to do a little more work on my attitude of openness to whatever it is that's going to happen."

"The people are saying they look in the mirror and feel no different than they did when they were 20 - they aren't in touch with the ways they have changed." (Klein)

"What does comprehensive health reform mean to you?"

As President Obama has said, “…fixing what's wrong with our health care system is no longer just a moral imperative, but a fiscal imperative.” As he has also said, comprehensive reform will have to deal with reining in costs, expanding access, and improving the quality of health care. At least six things will have to be done for heath care reform to be successful.

Put health care on a budget! In the past 10 years health care costs have grown four times as fast as wages or the economy – bankrupting families, employers, and government. Growth in health care spending has to be brought back into line with the growth our economy. Since almost 50% of health care spending is by governments, they need to lead with efforts to gain more health with the same or fewer dollars. In the last 10 years, the State of Washington spending on health care has doubled, while education spending has grown by 27%.  If this continues we will have neither the prosperity to pay for health care nor the doctors and nurses to provide the care.

Government spending on health care is well managed! With such a large share of the health expenditure, primarily through the Medicare and Medicaid programs, governments are in a strong position to improve health care affordability and access. If these programs focused on effectiveness, quality, and outcomes in their health care purchasing, the whole system would improve. And government would have additional resources to spend on access for the uninsured.

First, we need to “reform” Medicare -- which spends three times as much per person in Miami as in Minneapolis – and the health outcomes in Miami are worse. If every region of the country was paid at the same rate as the regions that demonstrate the most quality and efficiency, Medicare would be solvent and senior citizens would be healthier. Further, since health plans tend to follow Medicare reimbursement methods, the whole system would improve if Medicare bought health care based on quality and effectiveness. Tom Daschle, in his book, Critical: What we can do about the health care crisis, says this will only happen if money and politics are separated from Medicare buying decisions.

Second, allow states to manage Medicaid for effective, quality and appropriate care.

Reform the health care delivery system! While the current “system” delivers medical miracles to some, it is organized to neither deliver quality care nor broad-based outcomes and health. Primary care is in decline and patients have low levels of information, choice or responsibility. The low quality of the delivery system is at the root of the affordability and access problems. Reform must change reimbursements to reward effective, efficient and appropriate care.

Federal science policy that builds the evidence base for effective and safe care! A small percentage of care that Americans receive is based on evidence – our treatments are largely determined by the supply of providers and their preferences.  This creates extremely high levels of unwarranted variability in health care delivery and significant amounts of waste and risk to patients. If federal spending and regulation required medical practice based on evidence and comparable effectiveness, health care would be more affordable and accessible.

Improve Public Health and prevention! Over half of health spending is on problems related to nutrition, physical activity, smoking and substance-abuse behaviors. Today’s generation of children have a lower life expectancy than their parents – primarily because of obesity. Reform must redirect spending from the medical “sick care” system to health and prevention.

Universal access to quality, affordable and appropriate care! The access problem is a result of declining affordability -- and the affordability crisis is a result of the quality issues in health care delivery and financing. With the savings from the first five priorities, we will be able to move toward universal coverage – without bankrupting families, employers and our country.

Continuing from our last post, and rounding out our May 1 Patient Advocacy panel, we have...

(Is this where we put the drumroll?)

Raleigh Bowden, MD is Executive Director of the Seattle African American Comfort Program (SAACP). The founding of SAACP comes from another personal experience: inspiration from a patient. "This patient recognized the value of choice and respect in the design of her treatment and in the final months of her life. She wanted to create an opportunity for others facing a terminal illness to have the same ‘coaching’ and access to care options that respected her values so she could face the end of her life with dignity and self-empowerment." SAACP advocates for and educates about culturally respectful end-of-life services for African Americans; they provide services to individuals as well as trainings to organizations.

Michael Ingraham, MD is a Hospitalist at Virginia Mason Medical Center, a name you're surely already familiar with. We went to the VMMC website for help describing exactly what a hospitalist does: there, they are described as "captain of the ship." Hospitalists coordinate patient care and are often the contact for a patient's various other doctors and specialists, which helps create a comprehensive health care plan for a patient. "Since the hospitalist's 'office' is the hospital, they are also more familiar with the hospital's policies and activities."

What other patient advocacy organizations do you know of the Puget Sound region?