National Summit Will Address Healthcare Innovation, Cost Stability and System Sustainability

Leaders from Multiple Health Industry Sectors, Government, Business, Academia and Patient Groups Will Meet on March 2 to Develop New Approaches to Healthcare Payment, Delivery Systems

WASHINGTON – The Healthcare Leadership Council (HLC), a coalition of chief executives from healthcare providers, payers, manufacturers and other health sectors, announced today that it will host a summit meeting on March 2 in Washington, DC to address how evolving healthcare payment and delivery systems can encourage innovation and achieve greater value and financial sustainability.

The summit, according to HLC President Mary R. Grealy, will include leaders from all health sectors as well as the legislative and executive branches of government, employers, academia and patient advocacy organizations. The meeting is part of HLC’s National Dialogue for Healthcare Innovation (NDHI) initiative, a project designed to bring diverse interests together to develop consensus approaches on issues affecting healthcare progress.

“There are a lot of voices out there talking about healthcare costs, value, affordability and sustainability. We’re never going to develop a pathway, though, that will incentivize innovation and strengthen health system value until we bring everyone to the same table,” said Ms. Grealy. “The March 2 summit will, we hope, serve as a launchpad to develop ideas and policy directions that will bring sustainable value to healthcare payment and delivery systems.”

Ms. Grealy said the March 2 summit will be accompanied by academic research. NORC, an independent social science research organization based at the University of Chicago, will investigate, among other subjects, barriers to innovation within the current health policy structure and possible payment and delivery system alternatives that can both encourage medical advances to improve health and achieve cost stability. Also, she said, HLC envisions that Summit participants will continue collaborating after the March 2 event, working toward consensus ideas on the complex questions surrounding innovation and value.

The steering committee for the HLC initiative reflects, Ms. Grealy said, the strong interest at all points of the healthcare continuum in bringing a collaborative approach to these issues. Steering committee members include Aetna, Amgen, Ascension, Cardinal Health, C.R. Bard, Edwards Lifesciences, Emdeon, Eli Lilly & Company, Health Care Service Corporation, Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic, MemorialCare Health System, Merck, Premier healthcare alliance, Sanofi, SCAN Health Plan and ZS Associates.

“The stakes here are incalculable,” said Ms. Grealy. “Aligning modern-day leaps in healthcare progress with systems that are financially affordable and sustainable is not an option, it’s an imperative. We need to begin defining a future for American healthcare in which all patients and consumers have access to the innovations in all health sectors that are saving, extending and transforming lives. It’s time for all voices and interests to come together to meet this challenge.”

The March 2 summit will take place at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.