2010 Lecture: US Health Care Reform

OHE’s 2010 Annual Lecture features Dr Alan Garber on the implications of the American health care reform law. Register to join us in London on 22 June 2010.

For a summary of Dr Garber's remarks see these blog posts:  Part 1 and Part 2.  The full text of  his remarks is available in print and by download from OHE.

Each year, the OHE sponsors a lecture that explores a timely issue in medicine and/or health economics.  Last year’s lecture, by Prof Tony Atkinson, summarized in this blog, focused on measuring health outputs in government systems.

The OHE’s Annual Lecture for 2010 features Dr Alan Garber, Director both of Stanford University’s Center for Health Policy and its Center for Primary Care and Outcomes Research at the School of Medicine.  Entitled 'US Healthcare Reform: Monumental Health System Transformation or Fatally Flawed Compromise?', his remarks will focus on the national health care legislation recently enacted in the US.

Dr Garber will comment on the legislation from a unique perspective – as a practicing professor of medicine, one of the world’s leading health economists, and an expert in health care policy.  His overview will touch on several of the key issues raised by the new law that relate to coverage, cost, and quality, including the following.

1. Expansion of coverage and the implications for both public and private programs
2. Changes in the nature and extent of the demand for services that may affect, for example, preventive care, primary care, and integrated care
3. Implications for cost control, including whether and how cost-effectiveness criteria maybe used
4. Effects on quality of care and the impact of the new Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute  may have
5. Specific implications for prescription medicine consumption and pricing

Join us in what promises to be a fascinating exploration of the implications of change in the American approach to health care.

The lecture will be held at 6:00 PM on Tuesday, 22 June 2010, at The Royal College of Physicians in London.  Our Summer Drinks Reception will follow.