BRATTLEBORO — A blue-ribbon panel of health care leaders will anchor a public discussion of population health and its ramifications into 2014 and beyond.
The event is at Marlboro College Graduate Center, 28 Vernon St., on Tuesday, April 15, from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
“Population Health Under Obamacare: What Is It and How Does It Impact Us?” takes a close look at President Barack Obama's signature health care reform initiative.
Event organizers write, “Over the past several decades a patchwork of 'public health' systems and private health care providers has been developed to address the country's poor health status and burgeoning costs. In its present form, this system cannot effectively address such great challenges.
“A new process, 'Population Health,' that underlies the Affordable Care Act (ACA) [...] has ramifications that affect all of us - the general public, health care providers, insurance carriers, [and] small and large employers.
“Population Health will employ the compilation and use of data to help ensure best practices, support those providing it, and contain costs. The ACA, using the population health concept, at its best aims to improve the nation's health status by using health care provider accountability, outcome measures, and 'pay for performance' contracts while using funds optimally.”
Organizers say hospitals all over New England have started to make structural changes and new alignments to prepare for this.
The panelists include hospital, state, and association leaders:
• Robin Lunge, director of health care reform for the state of Vermont.
• Bea Grause, RN, JD, president and CEO of the Vermont Association of Hospitals and Health Systems.
• Tom Dee, president and CEO of Southwestern Vermont Health Care.
• Yvonne Goldsberry, Ph.D., vice president of population health and clinical integration, Cheshire Medical Center/Dartmouth-Hitchcock Keene.
Goldsberry will begin the discussion on the scope of Population Health. The Dartmouth hospital system has been engaged in the Medicare pilot program for more than five years.
In Vermont, an innovative approach is being undertaken with the Green Mountain Care Board. Topics to be covered include improving health outcomes; pay for performance contracts; “accountable care organizations”; and the role of electronic health records.
There will also be time for questions and answers.
Craig Miskovich, longtime health care administration faculty instructor on legal issues in healthcare, and a legal advisor to health care organizations in Vermont and New Hampshire, will moderate.