rand event program

The Third Rail of Health Reform: Cost

8

8

The RAND Corporation is a nonprofit institution that helps improve policy and decisionmaking through research and analysis.

August 29, 2009 Nashville, Tennessee

Schermerhorn Symphony Center

C O R P O R A T I O N

0642-4934_Event Program v6.indd 1 8/27/09 9:22:51 AM

SponsorsThe Martin Foundation • Vanguard Health Systems • Healthspottr

Today, the U.S. spends more on health care than any other country.

But spending more does not make us healthier or live longer than

people in other developed countries. The facts suggest that we could

spend less and get the same results or get better value from the

amount that we do spend. To create a public dialogue about the

most promising opportunities to improve value and reduce

unnecessary spending in health care and gain accurate insights

into these choices, the RAND Corporation is hosting this high profile

national health summit. A key feature of today’s summit will be

recognizing innovators who have already demonstrated through

their groundbreaking efforts how to control health care costs. The

discussion will feature analysis from the RAND COMPARE initiative,

a transparent, objective and evidence-based approach

to evaluating health policies.

A Critical Conversation

8

8

0642-4934_Event Program v6.indd 2-3 8/27/09 9:23:05 AM

Agenda (as of 8/27/09)

10:00–10:10 a.m. Welcome: Phil Bredesen, Governor, State of Tennessee

10:10–10:40 a.m. Framing the Cost Challenge:

David M. Walker, President and CEO, Peter G. Peterson Foundation; Comptroller General of the United States (1998–2008)

10:40–11:10 a.m. Controlling Health Care Spending: Making the Tough Choices

Elizabeth A. McGlynn, Ph.D., Associate Director, RAND Health

Introduced by Jim Thomson, President and CEO, RAND Corporation

11:15–12:15 p.m. A Panel Discussion on Controlling Costs in Federal Health Care Reform Legislation:

Phil Bredesen, Governor, State of Tennessee

Jim Cooper, U.S. Representative, Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District


Julie Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H, Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2002–2009)

Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., Chairman and CEO, Abraxis BioScience, Inc.

Moderated by Leonard D. Schaeffer, Judge Widney Professor and Chair, University of Southern California; Founding Chairman and CEO, WellPoint

12:15–1:30 p.m. Lunch break

1:35–1:45 p.m. Announcement of Healthspottr Awards Program for Health Care Innovators

Carleen Hawn, Cofounder and CEO, Healthspottr

1:45–2:20 p.m. Presentations by Dr. Jordan Shlain and Alexandra Drane Healthspottr Health Care Innovators

2:20–3:35 p.m. A Panel Discussion on Incentives for Change:

Helen Darling, CEO, National Business Group on Health

Debra Lappin, J.D., President, Council for American Medical Innovation


Len Nichols, Ph.D., Director, Health Policy Program, New America Foundation

Leonard Schaeffer, Judge Widney Professor and Chair, University of Southern California; Founding Chairman and CEO, WellPoint

Moderated by Phil Bredesen, Governor, State of Tennessee

3:35–3:45 p.m. Closing Comments by Governor Bredesen

7:30 p.m. “Words of Albert Schweitzer and the Music of Bach” Presented by the Tennessee Players


Phil Bredesen, Governor, State of Tennessee

Phil Bredesen took office as Tennessee’s 48th governor in January 2003 and was re-elected in November 2006, winning all 95 counties. Prior to serving as Governor, Bredesen served two terms as Nashville’s mayor from 1991 to 1999. Under his leadership, the city enjoyed record economic growth, redevelopment of the downtown area, and a lower crime rate. Before entering public service, Bredesen founded and led HealthAmerica Corp., a Nashville-based health care management company.

In both professional and public life, Bredesen has made significant contributions to the state in areas as diverse as health care, conservation and education. As Governor, he has set clear priorities for the state, beginning with Tennessee’s number one priority — education—and a commitment to raising standards at all levels and increasing graduation rates. He has increased teacher pay above the Southeastern average and expanded the state’s pilot Pre-K initiative into a program for four-year-olds across the state.

In 2007, Bredesen celebrated the completion of a historic 127,000-acre land conservation acquisition on the northern Cumberland Plateau. He also launched CoverTN and CoverKids to provide health insurance for working Tennesseans and uninsured children, and the programs are now providing health care to more than 104,000 Tennesseans, including more than 40,000 children and 20,000 working adults across the state.

During his time in office, Tennessee has also seen tremendous progress in economic development, including 40 new corporate headquarters, 155,000 new jobs, and more than $23 billion in new investments. Living up to its designation as 2007’s most competitive state in the nation for economic development by Site Selection Magazine, in 2008 Bredesen celebrated Volkswagen Group of America’s selection of Chattanooga as the site for its new $1 billion automotive production facility and welcomed Hemlock Semiconductor and its plans to build a $1.2 billion facility to manufacture solar panel components in Clarksville. He is focused on developing continued strategies for making Tennessee a leader in the clean-energy technology sector.

Bredesen lives in Nashville with his wife, Andrea Conte.


Dave serves as President and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation. As CEO, he leads the Foundation’s efforts to promote federal financial responsibility and personal financial responsibility in order to keep America strong and the American Dream alive.

Prior to his current position, he served as the seventh Comptroller General of the United States and head of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) from 1998 to 2008, spanning both Democratic and Republican administrations. Appointed by President Bill Clinton and confirmed unanimously by the U.S. Senate, he was an outspoken, nonpartisan advocate for addressing the major fiscal and other sustainability challenges facing the country. He also enacted transformational reforms within GAO and the accountability profession both domestically and internationally.

Prior to his appointment to run the GAO, Dave served as a partner and global managing director of Arthur Andersen LLP and in several government leadership positions, including as a Public Trustee for Social Security and Medicare from 1990 to 1995 and as Assistant Secretary of Labor for Pension and Welfare Benefit Programs during the Reagan Administration.

Although no longer the US government’s chief auditor, Dave continues to serve as a global accountability expert as Chairman of the United Nations Independent Audit Advisory Committee. He also serves on the boards of the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, the Partnership for Public Service, as well as the Advisory Board of Toffler Associates. In addition, he is the Executive Counselor for the American Society for Public Administration and recipient of the Alexander Hamilton Award from the Center of the Study of the Presidency.

Dave has authored two books, is a regular commentator, and is the subject of the critically acclaimed documentary I.O.U.S.A., which premiered in theatres around the country in August 2008. He is currently working on a new book that will be published by Random House in 2009.


David M. Walker (cont.)Dave holds a B.S. in accounting from Jacksonville University, a certificate in Senior Management in Government from Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government, and several honorary doctorate degrees. He has won numerous leadership, public service, and other awards during his career. He and his wife, Mary, live in Alexandria, VA and have two children and three grandchildren.


Elizabeth McGlynn holds the Distinguished Chair in Health Quality at the RAND Corporation and serves as associate director of RAND Health.

McGlynn oversees strategic development, external dissemination, and communications of the results of the RAND Health research portfolio. She is an internationally known expert on methods for assessing and reporting on the quality and efficiency of health care delivery at the physician, medical group, hospital, health plan, regional, and national level. She is coleading RAND Health’s COMPARE initiative, which has developed a comprehensive framework and methods for evaluating a wide range of health policy proposals being considered at the federal and state level as well as by the private sector.

She is a member of the Institute of Medicine and serves on a variety of national advisory committees. She is on the board of AcademyHealth, the professional association for health services researchers. She is the incoming vice chair of the board of Providence-Little Company of Mary Hospital Service Area in Southern California. She serves on the editorial boards for Health Services Research and Milbank Quarterly and is a reviewer for many leading journals.

McGlynn received her Ph.D. in public policy analysis from the Pardee RAND Graduate School.

Jim Thomson, President and CEO, RAND Corporation

Jim Thomson has been RAND’s president and chief executive officer since August 1989. Thomson joined the RAND staff in 1981 with a background in experimental nuclear physics and in government. He has served the institution in a variety of roles, including that of director of RAND’s research programs in national security, foreign policy, defense policy, and arms control (1981-1985); vice president in charge of RAND Project AIR FORCE (1984-1988); and executive vice president (1989). From 1977 to January 1981, Thomson was a member of the National Security Council staff at the White House, where he was primarily responsible for defense and arms control matters related to Europe. He was on the staff of the Office of the Secretary of Defense from 1974 to 1977.

Thomson is a member of the Council on Foreign Relations; the International Institute for Strategic Studies; and the board of the Los Angeles World Affairs Council. He is a director of AK Steel Corporation and Encysive Pharmaceuticals, and was recently appointed to serve on the Overseas Basing Commission, a congressional panel conducting a detailed study of United States military facilities overseas.

Thomson holds a B.S. in physics from the University of New Hampshire and an M.S. and Ph.D. in physics from Purdue University. He was a postdoctoral research associate in physics and did basic research in experimental nuclear physics at the University of Wisconsin. He received an honorary doctorate of science from the University of New Hampshire in 2007.


Jim Cooper, U.S. Representative, Tennessee’s Fifth Congressional District

Fighting for America’s Long-Term Fiscal Future • Introduced bipartisan SAFE Commission Act, long-term

entitlement reform task force, with support from House Majority and Minority Leaders and over 100 colleagues

• Wrote foreword to and published The Financial Report of the United States official U.S. Treasury document outlining country’s fiscal health.

Reforming the Nation’s Security Strategy • Chairman, House Armed Services Committee Panel on Roles and Missions

• Author, 2008 “Initial Perspectives” Roles and Mission report on America’s 21st Century national security posture

Leading the Fight for Health Care for All • Introduced Cooper-Breaux health care reform plan in 1993, which gained

wide support from Republicans and Democrats

• Currently lead cosponsor of bipartisan Wyden-Bennett Healthy Americans Act

Strengthening Oversight and Accountability in Government • Cooper-McCaskill Inspector General Reform Act of 2008, reforming federal

watchdogs, signed into law October 2008

• Led committee investigation of electric co-op governance and fought to eliminate billions of dollars in wasteful crop insurance industry subsidies in 2008 Farm Bill

• Leading the effort to reform congressional spending; original cosponsor of Bipartisan Earmark Reform Commission Act of 2008

What Commentators Say about Jim Cooper’s Work in Congress • “ Rep. Jim Cooper is the Al Gore of financial collapse.”

– Patrick O’Connor, Politico

• “ …one of the most thoughtful, cordial and well-prepared members of the House.” – David Brooks, New York Times

• “ A Democratic crusader for honestly balanced budgets.” – David Broder, Washing-ton Post, praising Cooper’s efforts to reform government spending

• “ Intellectual giant in body of lesser brains in our nation’s Capitol.” – Business Tennessee

In BriefJim Cooper (D-TN) has represented Nashville and surrounding areas in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2002, currently serving on the Armed Services Committee and the Oversight and Government Reform Committee. An attorney and Rhodes Scholar, Cooper was first elected at age 28 to represent Tennessee’s Fourth Congressional District (1983-95). Today, in addition to serving in Congress, he teaches graduate-level health policy at Vanderbilt University’s Owen School of Management. He and his wife Martha have three children.


Julie Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H., Director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2002–2009)

In her six years as the first woman director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Julie Louise Gerberding, M.D., M.P.H. guided the nation’s leading health protection agency through an era of rapid growth and emergency response to 43 national and global health threats – including SARS, West Nile Virus, several hurricanes, and avian influenza. She joined CDC in 1998 as director of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion where she led patient safety programs and national efforts to combat infections and antimicrobial resistance in healthcare settings. In July 2002, she was appointed as CDC Director to oversee a $10 billion budget and a workforce of 15,000 people in more than 45 countries during a dramatic expansion of CDC’s portfolio to encompass terrorism preparedness, pandemics, and other global health threats. In addition, she led a strategic restructuring of CDC that created new research centers in health marketing, public health informatics, and zoonotic diseases, and implemented a $1.6 billion capital improvement program on-time and on-budget. She also initiated CDC’s influenza pandemic preparedness operations and exercise curriculum, and together with state and local public health and private sector partners, launched the “Alliance to Make US Healthiest,” a grass roots movement to expand health system reform efforts to emphasize health promotion and wellness. Under her tenure, CDC earned the nation’s first award from the Office of Management and Budget for successful creation of a “high performing organization” which saved taxpayers more than $500 million over 5 years. Dr. Gerberding committed CDC to be “the exemplar” of sustainability and health promotion and initiated many successful public-private partnerships to address obesity, health reform, pandemic preparedness, antimicrobial resistance, global health, and other issues. Under her leadership, CDC continued as the most trusted government agency, according to the Harris poll.

Dr. Gerberding is currently an Associate Professor of Medicine at UCSF and a Clinical Professor of Medicine at Emory University, and continues to provide care for patients at San Francisco General Hospital. She has established a new health innovation consulting

firm and serves on several boards including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Grand Challenges in Global Health Board, the Accordia Global Health Foundation Board, and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Visiting Committee for Whitaker College of Science and Technology.

Dr. Gerberding is an elected member of both the Institute of Medicine and the National Academy of Public Administration. In 2005, Time Magazine named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, and Forbes Magazine listed her among the 100 Most Powerful Women in the world each year from 2005 to 2008. Dr. Gerberding received the Surgeon General’s Medallion, the highest honor bestowed by the United States Public Health Service, for exceptional achievement in the cause of public health and medicine.


Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D., Chairman and CEO, Abraxis BioScience, Inc.

Dr. Soon-Shiong is the Executive Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of Abraxis Health. He was recently appointed Executive Director of the UCLA Wireless Health Institute, and is Professor of Microbiology, Immunology, and Molecular Genetics Professor of Bioengineering at UCLA.

Dr. Soon-Shiong holds a degree in Medicine from the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa, and a Master of Science from the University of British Columbia. He is a fellow of the American College of Surgeons and the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. Dr. Soon-Shiong performed the world’s first encapsulated islet transplant in a diabetic patient. He developed the first FDA approved protein nanoparticle delivery technology for the treatment of metastatic breast cancer and this drug is being developed for lung, melanoma, gastric and pancreatic cancer. He is a co-inventor of over 50 issued U.S. patents, has published more than 100 scientific papers, and founder of 2 publicly traded pharmaceutical companies, American Pharma Partners and Abraxis Bioscience .

Dr. Soon-Shiong’s research has been recognized by national and international awards such as the Association for Academic Surgery Award for Research, the American College of Surgeons Schering Scholar, the Royal College Physicians and Surgeons Research Award, the Peter Kiewit Distinguished Membership in Medicine Award, and the International J.W. Hyatt Award for Service to Mankind. Dr. Soon-Shiong received the 2006 Gilda Club Award for the advancement of cancer medicine and is a recipient of a 2007 Ellis Island Medal of Honor as well as the St. Mary Medical Center Life Achievement Award in 2007 and the St. John’s Health Center Caritas Award in 2007.

In 2008 he received the Medical Visionary Award from the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network for his work in pancreatic cancer.

Dr. Soon-Shiong currently serves on the Board of Directors for the National Institute of Transplantation as well as the Technology Council for the new Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence at Northwestern University which is part of the National

Cancer Institute’s (NCI) five-year initiative for nanotechnology in cancer research. He also serves on two advisory boards for the RAND Corporation, the RAND Center for Asia Pacific Policy and the RAND Health Board of Advisors. Dr. Soon-Shiong recently joined the Board of Trustees for the Saint John’s Health Center in Los Angeles, California and the Advisory Board of the California NanoSystems Institute at UCLA. He also recently joined the Advisory Board for the Institute for Technology Advancement (ITA) at UCLA School of Engineering & Applied Science, as well as the Board of Councilors of the USC Viterbi School of Engineering.

In 2009 he was appointed to the President’s Council at RAND Corporation, Chairman of the Steering Committee of Life Sciences of the X-Prize Foundation and Founding Board member to Dossia Foundation.

Leonard D. Schaeffer, Judge Widney Professor and Chair, University of Southern California; Founding Chairman and CEO, WellPoint

Leonard D. Schaeffer is the founding Chairman & CEO of WellPoint, the nation’s largest health insurance company. WellPoint has over 34 million medical members and revenues of over $56 billion. He is currently Chairman of Surgical Care Affiliates and a Senior Advisor to TPG Capital, a private equity firm. Mr. Schaeffer serves on the RAND Health Board of Advisors.

Mr. Schaeffer was Chairman & CEO of WellPoint from 1992 through 2004 and continued as Chairman through 2005. In 1986, Mr. Schaeffer was recruited as CEO of WellPoint’s predecessor company, Blue Cross of California, when it was near bankruptcy. He managed the turnaround of Blue Cross, founded WellPoint and completed 17 acquisitions. During his tenure, the company grew in value from $11 million to over $49 billion.

Under Mr. Schaeffer’s leadership, WellPoint was selected by Fortune as America’s Most Admired Health Care Company for six consecutive years and by Business Week as one of the 50 best performing public companies for three consecutive years. Mr. Schaeffer was selected by Business Week as one of the Top 25 Managers of the Year and by Worth as one of the “50 Best CEOs in America.”


Leonard D. Schaeffer (cont.)Mr. Schaeffer’s public service included appointments as Administrator of the federal Health Care Financing Administration (now CMS), Assistant Secretary for Management and Budget of the federal Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Director of the Bureau of the Budget for the state of Illinois, Chairman of the Illinois Capital Development Board, and Deputy Director of the Illinois Department of Mental Health.

Mr. Schaeffer was also President & CEO of Group Health, Inc., EVP & COO of the Stu-dent Loan Marketing Association, (Sallie Mae) and a Vice President of Citibank.

Mr. Schaeffer is a graduate of Princeton University and was the Regent’s Lecturer at the University of California at Berkeley. He is the Judge Robert Maclay Widney Chair and Professor at the University of Southern California.

Charles N. Martin, Jr., Chairman and CEO, Vanguard Health Systems; Trustee, RAND Corporation Charlie Martin has served as Chairman and Chief Executive Officer for Vanguard Health Systems’ since its inception in 1997. Prior to Vanguard, Charlie served as Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of OrNda HealthCorp. Under his leadership OrNda grew from revenue of $450 million to $3 billion in four years to become the nation’s third largest investor-owned hospital management company. His career includes serving as President, Director and Chief Operating Officer of HealthTrust Inc., as well as Executive Vice President and Director of Hospital Corporation of America, and Chief Operating Officer and Director of General Care Corporation. Mr. Martin is a trustee of the RAND Corporation and a member of the RAND Health Board of Advisors.

Bob Brook, Vice President, RAND Corporation; Director, RAND Health

At RAND since 1974, Dr. Brook is Vice President, Corporate Fellow and Director of the Health Program, and also serves at UCLA as Director of the Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program and Professor of Medicine and Health Services.

Dr. Brook led the Health and Quality Group on the $80M Health Insurance Experiment and was co-principal investigator on the Health Services Utilization Study. He was the co-principal Investigator on the only national study that has investigated, at a clinical level, the impact of DRGs on quality and outcome of acute hospital care. He was also the co-principal investigator on a joint activity of 12 academic medical centers, the AMA, and RAND, the purpose of which was to develop appropriateness criteria and parameters for the use of procedures.

Dr. Brook received his BS from the University of Arizona and his graduate degrees in medicine and public health from Johns Hopkins University.

Carleen Hawn, Cofounder and CEO, Healthspottr

Prior to founding Healthspottr, Carleen was an associate editor with Forbes and, later, a senior writer and west coast bureau chief for Fast Company Magazine. While with Forbes, she created the well-known Midas List, an index of leading venture capital dealmakers, now in its ninth year of publication. Carleen holds a BA in political science from Barnard College and a master’s degree from Columbia Journalism School, and was a Knight-Bagehot Fellow at Columbia Business School. She currently contributes to Health Affairs. Her work can also be found in the archives of Financial Week, Ode, Business 2.0, Inc., San Francisco, and Outside.


Dr. Jordan Shlain, Healthspottr Health Care Innovator

Dr. Jordan Shlain founded Current Health, then called On Call Medical Group, in 1997 because he wanted to run a medical practice that puts priority on the doctor-patient relationship.

During his residency, Dr. Shlain had the opportunity to provide a house call for an elderly patient—an experience that made a lasting impression. He realized he was able to spend the amount of time with a patient necessary to offer the best care in the comfort of the patient’s own home. Dr. Shlain found that this unhurried, more comprehensive way of practicing medicine is consistent with the natural instincts of a doctor: being concerned first and foremost with the care of each patient.

It became clear to him that the “house call” could benefit many other people and he soon became the physician of choice for the hospitality industry as well as the maritime industry. Today, the largest part of the practice is made up of Bay Area residents who are looking for the same—the best quality primary care and convenient, same-day medical visits.

Dr. Shlain is also an assistant clinical professor at the UCSF Medical Center and a medical economics lecturer at UC Berkeley. He is also the Northern California medical director for Lufthansa Airlines, and is on the board of directors for the San Francisco Medical Society. He received a BA from the University of California at Berkeley and an MD from Georgetown University Medical School.

Alexandra Drane, Healthspottr Health Care Innovator

Alexandra Drane is a founder and the President of Eliza Corporation, where she is responsible for establishing Eliza’s leadership position in the healthcare marketplace. Alex leads strategy, product innovation, and program design efforts. In this role, she works directly with innovative healthcare leaders to better understand how Eliza’s technology can enable and support targeted behavior

change that will significantly impact both individual health and overall health care costs. Alex also works with Eliza’s development teams to translate end-user behavior into inter-face design and performance standards.

Channeling her passion for engaging people in potentially difficult health-related conversations, Alex also founded Engage With Grace, a not-for-profit movement aimed at helping people understand and communicate their end-of-life wishes. Since its launch in October 2008, Engage With Grace has been featured in well over 100 blogs (including the Wall Street Journal and Business Week) as well as in more traditional media outlets such as The Boston Globe and USA Today. Engage With Grace has proven to be a safe place for individuals looking for information, support, and guidance on end-of-life conversations.

Prior to founding Eliza, Alex was a founder of three other healthcare ventures - all focused on developing products that enable individual behavior change through the use of technology. The output of these ventures included the web-enabled injury-tracking software system adopted by the US Olympic Committee, software that automates dialysis clinics across the U.S., and a medical device proven in clinical trials to improve asthma treatment compliance by over 35%. Before focusing exclusively on healthcare strategy, Alex worked for two years as a strategy consultant for Corporate Decisions, Inc. (CDI) developing profitable growth strategies for clients in various industries. Alex has also worked with Michael Hammer, “Re-engineering” inventor/expert, and an angel group based in New England.

Alex is currently on the board of Eliza and on the Board of Overseers of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center. She also serves on the board of two other technology startups - both focused on using innovative technology in their respective fields. Alex is a member of the Health Executive Leadership Network and the Women Business Leaders of the U.S. Health Care Industry Foundation.


Helen Darling, CEO, National Business Group on Health

Helen Darling is president of the National Business Group on Health (formerly Washington Business Group on Health), a national non-profit, membership organization devoted exclusively to providing practical solutions to its employer-members’ most important health care problems and representing large employers’ perspective on national health policy issues. Its 280 plus members, including 59 of the Fortune 100 in 2009, purchase health and disability benefits for over 50 million employees, retirees and dependents.

Darling heads the Business Group’s Institute on Health Care Costs and Solutions which is devoted to finding practical solutions from a business perspective to the nation’s growing crisis of rapidly rising costs and affordability of care, on top of continuing problems of patient safety and quality. The Business Group’s National Committee on Evidence-Based Benefit Design, Global Health Benefits Institute and National Leadership Committee on Consumer-Directed Health Care and Consumerism are the most recent ways the membership is engaging in value purchasing and the global economy. In 2009, Helen was given the WorldatWork’s highest honor, the Keystone Award, in recognition of her sustained contributions to the field of human resources and benefits. She was named in 2003-2007 as one of “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care” in the United States by Modern Healthcare.

Darling serves on: the Committee on Performance Measurement of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (co-chair for 10 years); the Medical Advisory Panel, Technology Evaluation Center (Blue Cross Blue Shield Association); the Institute of Medicine’s Roundtable on Evidence-Based Medicine; the Board of the National Quality Forum; Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee; the Governance Committee of Care Focused Purchasing; and the Board of the Congressionally-created Reagan-Udall Foundation; along with a number of other advisory and editorial boards. She is featured on CNN, CNBC, ABC, and NPR on trends in health care costs and benefits. She is also widely

quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Business Insurance, and many other journals.

Previously, Darling served as practice leader at Watson Wyatt Worldwide, and directed the purchasing of health benefits and disability at Xerox Corporation for 55,000 U.S. employees, plus their dependents and retirees. Before joining Xerox, Darling was a principal at William W. Mercer. Earlier in her career, Darling was an advisor to Sen. David Durenberger, the ranking Republican on the Health Subcommittee of the Senate Finance Committee. She directed three studies at the Institute of Medicine for the National Academy of Sciences. Darling received a master’s degree in demography and sociology and a Bachelor’s of Science degree in history and English, cum laude, from the University of Memphis.

Debra Lappin, J.D., President, Council for American Medical Innovation

Debra Lappin is recognized across government, academic and non-profit sectors as a public servant and leading strategist in public health and science policy. She serves as president to the Council for American Medical Innovation, an organization that brings together leaders in research, medicine, public health, academia, education, labor and business who are working in partnership toward a national policy agenda that preserves U.S. leadership in medical innovation.

Debra consults on innovative public-private partnerships and other alliances to drive translation research and public health promotion and prevention. Calling upon her expe-riences as former national chair of the Arthritis Foundation, she is a recognized national spokesperson on public engagement in the nation’s public health and scientific enterprise.

Debra’s practice focuses on the increasingly influential role of non-profit patient organiza-tions as partners with government in research, development and prevention, where she orchestrates coalitions, global consortia, and other strategic alliances among academic


Debra Lappin, J.D. (cont.)research institutions, voluntary health agencies, government and industry. Areas of focus for such collaborative agreements have included work with the leading causes of disability, Arthritis and Alzheimer’s disease, and rare diseases, such as Duchenne muscular dystrophy. Most recently, she has orchestrated science policy campaigns on issues of open access and genetic non-discrimination.

Drawing upon her understanding of health agency trends, law, ethics, and practical business challenges, she advises on the development of a broad range of emerging, complex tools to enable translation, such as disease registries, large integrated databases, bio-specimen repositories and cross-institution affiliations to share data.

Debra serves or has served as an advisor to the leading agencies in public health, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the National Institutes of Health, and has participated on a number of committees at the National Academy of Sciences, including the Committee on the Organizational Structure of the NIH which led to a number of directions incorporated in the 2006 NIH Reform Act. She is a member of the Board of Research!America and is a adjunct professor at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center.

Len Nichols, Ph.D., Director, Health Policy Program, New America Foundation

Len Nichols, a highly respected healthcare economist, directs the Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, which aims to expand health insurance coverage to all Americans while reining in costs and improving the efficiency of the overall health care system. Before joining New America, Dr. Nichols was the Vice President of the Center for Studying Health System Change, a Principal Research Associate at the Urban Institute, and the Senior Advisor for Health Policy at the Office of Management and Budget during the Clinton reform efforts of 1993-94. He has testified frequently before Congress and state legislators and has published widely in a variety of health related journals.

Previously, Dr. Nichols was Chair of the Economics Department at Wellesley College, where he taught for 10 years. He also served as a member of the Competitive Pricing Advisory Commission (CPAC) and the 2001 Technical Review Panel for the Medicare Trustees Reports. He was on the advisory panel to the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation’s Covering America project and has been a consultant to the World Bank, the InterAmerican Development Bank, and the Pan American Health Organization. Dr. Nichols received his Ph.D. in Economics from the University of Illinois.

Source www.newamerica.net


Facts you can use, analysis you can trust.

The RAND Corporation’s COMPARE initiative provides information and tools to help policymakers, the media, and other interested parties understand,

design, and evaluate health policies.

For more information, visit RAND COmpARe at www.randcompare.org.

0642-4934_Event Program v6.indd 24 8/27/09 9:25:46 AM

rand event program

Documents

health policies

health care costs

health policy program

rail of health reform

rand health len nichols

health debra lappin

rand corporation11

phil bredesen