On October 27, GW Law is hosting "The Future of Health Reform: Law, Politics, and Policy." Professor James Morone of Brown University will open the conference with an overview of the "Key Issues in Health Care Reform." His presentation will be followed by two panels: the first will address the "Pros and Cons of Health Care Consolidation," and the second will cover "The Achievements and Challenges of Insurance Reform." Former Governor Martin O’Malley will be the keynote speaker at lunch and will discuss the "The Role of the States in Health Reform." The conference will conclude with two panels in the afternoon: the first will cover "FDA Restrictions on Access to Drugs and Devices," and the second will address "Health Reform Politics and Policy Under the Next President and Congress."
Agenda:
8:30 – 9 am: Registration and Continental Breakfast
9 – 9:05 am: Dean's Welcome
- Blake D. Morant, Dean and Robert Kramer Research Professor of Law, GW Law
9:05 – 9:35: am: "Key Issues in Health Care Reform"
An overview of issues related to cost, effects of cost, coverage, payment, industry, and consolidation.
- James Morone, Director of the A. Alfred Taubman Center for American Politics and Policy, Brown University
9:45 – 10:45 am: "Is Health Care Consolidation Good or Bad – and What Should Be Done About It?"
Moderator:
- Robert F. Leibenluft, Partner, Hogan Lovells
Panelists:
- Thomas L. Greaney, Co-Director of the Center for Health Law Studies, Saint Louis University School of Law
- Deborah L. Feinstein, Director of the Bureau of Competition, FTC
- Margaret E. Guerin-Calvert, Founding Director, Compass Lexecon
10:45 – 11 am: Break
11 am – Noon: "Insurance Reform: Achievements and Challenges"
Moderator:
Joel Teitelbaum, Director of the Hirsh Health Law and Policy Program, The George Washington University
Panelists:
- Phyllis Borzi, Assistant Secretary, Employee Benefits Security Administration
- Sabrina Corlette, Research Professor at the Center on Health Insurance Reforms, Georgetown University
- Cindy Mann, Partner, Manatt
Noon – 12:15 pm: Break
12:15 – 1:45 pm: Luncheon Keynote: "The Role of the States in Health Care Reform"
Continental Ballroom, Marvin Center, 800 21st Street, NW, Washington, D.C.
- The Honorable Martin O'Malley, Former Governor of Maryland
According to O’Malley:
"This is without any question, the boldest proposal in the Unites States in the last half century to grab the problem of cost growth by the horns." That is how one nationally renowned expert described Maryland's recent shift away from fee for service to global budgeting for hospital reimbursements.
The champion of this change was Governor Martin O'Malley. With his leadership, Maryland moved all of its 46 acute care hospitals to a new system for payments. This new "pay for wellness" system, as O'Malley calls it, allows hospitals to increase their profits by reducing avoidable hospital re-admissions. Launched in 2014 with a unique Medicare waiver negotiated between the O'Malley Administration federal partners at Health and Human Services and CMS, this reform is actually working.
According to an article this year in the New England Journal of Medicine, this reform has saved Medicare, alone, $116 million dollars in the first year while also improving health out outcomes for people. And not a single hospital -- rural, urban, or suburban -- has been forced to close.
Business Insider Magazine calls Maryland's pay-for-wellness reforms, "the revolution in healthcare that hardly anyone is talking about."
O'Malley will explain how it works, what needs to be improved, and how any State with the right mechanisms could control rising costs and improve the well-being of its people. "Why do we force hospitals to act like hotels in order to remain profitable?" O'Malley asks. "It doesn't need to be that way. Maryland is showing that we can improve health outcomes, control costs, and keep our hospitals profitable all at the same time."
1:45 – 2 pm: Break
2 – 3 pm: "FDA Restrictions on Access to Drugs and Devices: The Collision of the Constitution and the Regulations"
Moderator:
- Jonathan Kahan, Partner, Hogan Lovells
Panelists:
- William Schultz, Former General Counsel, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services
- Richard A. Samp, Chief Counsel, Washington Legal Foundation
3 – 3:15 pm: Break
3:15 – 4:20 pm: "Future of Health Reform Politics and Policy Under the Next President and Congress"
Moderator:
- Julie Rovner, Robin Toner Distinguished Fellow, Kaiser Health News
Panelists:
- William Corr, Former Deputy Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services
- Dr. Stuart Butler, Senior Fellow, The Brookings Institution
- Kristin L. Martin, Vice President, Waxman Strategies
Reception to follow
Background:
GW Law, long recognized as one of the top law schools in the country, pursues a distinctive research and learning mission that engages the leading law and policy questions of our time and provides students with an education that will position them to help change the world. Accredited by the American Bar Association and a charter member of the Association of American Law Schools, GW Law was founded in 1865 and was the first law school in the District of Columbia.