Health Policy Symposium

Phenomenal.

That’s the word HOSA National Officer, Claire Lucas, uses to describe her day at the Aspen Heath Stewardship Project Health Policy Symposium in Washington, D.C.. Claire received an invitation to attend the event because HOSA is one of thirty-one members of the Aspen Institutes Coalition.  The Aspen Institute is the premier think-tank for health care policy. The goal of today’s symposium, and the Stewardship as a whole, is to bring together professionals in all aspects of health care to create real dialogue on the next steps to health care reform.

The day began with a keynote from Doug Schoen, an influential campaign consultant, strategists for Penn, Schoen, & Berland and a Fox News Contributor. 

Following Schoen was a panel to discuss implications of the new federal health law. The audience was joined by leaders in health care policy: Shannon Brownlee from Dartmouth Institute for Health Policy, Dr. Judith Feder, Dean of the Georgetown Public Policy Institute, and Mark Ganz, CEO of Regence Blue Cross Blue Shield.  Remarks were made addressing the future of the health care work force. Will there be enough health care professionals in all regions of the country to deliver quality care? What can we do today to prepare the future workforce of the health care industry?  

Claire felt privilege to also hear remarks from the Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack. Secretary Vilsack addressed his concerns for childhood obesity and answered questions regarding the federal governments response to the issue.

One of the final discussions was on the Implications of CER, Comparative Effectiveness Research. CER is noted frequently in health care discussion because it is designed to inform healthcare decisions by providing evidence on effectiveness, benefits, and harms of different treatment options from clinical trials and research. Key leaders: Dr. Kavita Patel, a supporter of HOSA and current Director of Health Policy Program at the New America Foundation, along with Robert Honingerb of URAC, Karen Friss of Eli Lilly and Andrew Sperling of NAMMI answered questions regarding the implications of CER.

Congresswoman Donna Christensen and Claire Lucas

Also in attendance was Congresswoman Donna Christensen. Congresswoman Christensen is the first woman medical doctor elected to Congress and is also a supporter of HOSA. She serves on several committees of the House of Representatives, one as Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus Health Braintrust. Congresswoman attended the symposium to hear and weigh in on the importance discussions surrounding health care policy. 

Claire uses the word phenomenal to describe her overall experience at the Aspen Institute’s Health Policy Symposium. The panelists were phenomenal as were the leaders in attendance.