CHT 3rd Quarter Member Meeting

On September 8th, CHT hosted its third quarterly member meeting of 2004. Having recently returned from Europe, China and Japan where he visited with world health leaders, CHT Founder Newt Gingrich offered his observations about health transformation worldwide, the health trends of other countries, and their effect on and opportunity for America.

Melissa Chapman, senior associate of CHT Charter member Booz Allen Hamilton gave members an update on the rapidly changing health information technology environment highlighting some key announcements made by the National Information Technology Coordinator, Dr. David Brailer.

National pollsters Bill McInturff of Public Opinion Strategies and David Winston of The Winston Group shared key research findings related to health transformation. Members were given a broad overview of consumer attitudes and acceptance regarding such transformational issues as health justice, consumer driven healthcare, and access to information about healthcare price and quality. For example:

• Consumer Directed Health Care (CDHC) is increasing: Twelve percent (12%) of larger US companies offer some sort of CDHC plan today. Thirteen percent (13%) more plan to offer a CDHC plan within the next year. Twenty-seven percent (27%) more plan to offer a CDHC within five years.
• Healthcare system is failing Americans: Only 60% of voters think the health system is meeting their needs. This is the lowest point in twelve years.
• Predatory trial lawyers are decreasing quality: 73% of Americans believe the increasing number of medical malpractice lawsuits against doctors is making their healthcare worse.
• More US Government leadership on international fairness in research and discovery is needed: 65% of Americans believe the Government should negotiate with foreign governments to pay their fair share of R&D cost so Americans are not forced to bear a disproportionate share of the cost of discovering new medicines.

Our State Panel included Director of Policy & Planning for South Carolina’s Department of Health & Human Services, Bonnie Jean Drake, who reported on Governor Sanford’s priorities for healthcare in South Carolina. CHT member and CEO of Gold Standard Multimedia, Russell Thomas, outlined a successful pilot with the State of Florida in which doctors serving the Medicaid population were given wireless handheld devices to easily access pharmaceutical data on the beneficiaries they were treating. The pilot revealed that doctors who utilized Gold Standard’s handheld drug information databases wrote an average of 14 fewer prescriptions per month, with an approximate savings of $700 per doctor per month.

The day’s agenda concluded with a panel discussion on Reagan’s Lessons on Leadership. The panel, moderated by Newt Gingrich, included Ken Duberstein, former White House Chief of Staff to President Reagan, and Steven Hayward, author of The Age of Reagan.

Following our meetings, a VIP reception was held at the Center’s new location to give our members an opportunity to view what will be the intellectual epicenter of physical and virtual networks united to accelerate the transformation to a 21st Century Intelligent Health System. In addition to staff offices and meeting space, the Center has dedicated a portion of the new office to “Innovation Row.” Currently in the planning phase, Innovation Row will be a permanent multi-media executive briefing center, where leaders in Washington, as well as visitors, can experience first-hand our vision of a 21st Century Intelligent Health System.