Day One — Wednesday, November 2, 2005

Peter Lee, JD, the President and Chief Executive Officer of the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH), oversees the organization’s efforts to improve access to high quality health care, moderate costs and work collaboratively with other groups to achieve these goals. Mr. Lee is a member of the boards of the National Committee on Quality Assurance (NCQA) and the National Business Coalition on Health, and is the co-chair of the Consumer/Purchaser Disclosure Project, a national effort to promote better transparency of health care providers’ performance. Mr. Lee has served on numerous national and statewide bodies, such as the Institute of Medicine’s Crossing the Quality Chasm Summit Committee and the State of California’s Managed Health Care Improvement Task Force. Prior to joining PBGH, Mr. Lee was the Executive Director of the Center for Health Care Rights.

Dr. Milstein is the Medical Director of the Pacific Business Group on Health (PBGH) and the U.S. Health Care Thought Leader at Mercer Human Resource Consulting. PBGH is the largest employer health care purchasing coalition in the U.S. His work and publications focus on private and public sector health care purchasing strategy, clinical performance measurement, and the psychology of clinical performance improvement. He co-founded both the Leapfrog Group and the Consumer-Purchaser Disclosure Project. He heads performance measurement activities for both initiatives and is a MedPAC Commissioner. Previously a Rosenthal Lecturer at the Institute of Medicine, the New England Journal of Medicine’s series on employer sponsored health insurance described him as a “pioneer” in efforts to advance quality of care. In 2004 and 2005, he was selected for the highest annual award of World-at- Work, the largest global organization of human resource managers, and of the National Business Group on Health (NBGH). The NBGH award cited nationally recognized innovation and implementation success in health care cost reduction and quality gains. Educated at Harvard (BA-Economics), Tufts (MD) and UC-Berkeley (MPH-Health Services Evaluation and Planning), he is an associate clinical professor at the University of California at San Francisco.

• Identify marketplace trends and principles that lead to excessive and unnecessary healthcare consumption
• Establish a system properly aligns incentives, rewards and consumption
• Create a paradigm shift: Effective health and human capital management

For almost 20 years, Dr. Wendy Lynch has been making the connection between employee health and business outcomes. Her career has included roles as faculty at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Senior Scientist at Health Decisions International, and Principal and Senior consultant at Mercer Human Resource Consulting. Now Executive Director of a new education and research foundation called the Health as Human Capital Foundation, she also runs her own independent consulting practice in Denver. Educated at the University of Colorado at Boulder, she earned a Doctorate in Research and Evaluation Methodology. Wendy has applied her skills in research design and evaluation to several pivotal studies in the fields of health management, productivity assessment and human capital management.

• Identify current opportunities and challenges ahead
• The impact of choice on quality and outcomes for employers, plans and providers
• Long-term benefits of Health Savings Accounts

John C. Goodman, Ph.D. founded the NCPA in 1983 and has served as President since the center's inception. The Wall Street Journal called Dr. Goodman "the father of Medical Savings Accounts," and National Journal declared him "winner of the devolution derby" because his ideas on ways to transfer power from government to the people have had a significant impact on Capitol Hill. Dr. Goodman is the author of seven books, including Economics of Public Policy, a widely used college textbook, and Patient Power: Solving America's Health Care Crisis, the condensed version of which sold 300,000 copies and is credited with playing a pivotal role in the defeat of the Clinton administration's plan to overhaul the U.S. health care system. He regularly briefs members of Congress on economic policy issues and frequently testifies before congressional committees. He is author/co-author of more than 50 published studies on such topics as health policy, tax reform and school choice. He received the prestigious Duncan Black award in 1988 for the best scholarly article on public choice economics. Dr. Goodman received a Ph.D. in economics from Columbia University. He has taught and done research at several colleges and universities including Columbia University, Stanford University, Dartmouth, Southern Methodist University and the University of Dallas.

• Discussion of latest statistics and enrollment numbers
• Forecasting the future trend of consumer-directed initiatives
• Market analysis and conclusions for employers and health plans

Steve’s journalism career includes more than a decade of health care reporting. Prior to joining Atlantic Information Services in Washington, D.C., he spent three years covering hospital safety and security issues for United Communications Group, and has written numerous articles for the American Hospital Association’s magazines. In 2001, he won the Newsletter & Electronic Publishers Foundation award for “Excellence in Instructional Reporting.” His background also includes six years as a senior editor with Aspen Publishers and a stint with CNN Business News.

• Measuring the success of a consumer-driven plan
• Developing and designing a marketing and communications campaign for a CDHP rollout
• Employee involvement, education techniques and essential tools

JoAnn Mills Laing has global work and living experience with four public companies (Sara Lee, Olivetti, Chase and Citigroup), as well as running her own successful eCommerce-based businesses. As Chairman of Cybernautics, a premier Audience Development Company, she took the company from idea to profitability and its purchase/IPO (by U.S. Web). She is an undergraduate of Syracuse University's Whitman School of Management and holds an MBA from The Harvard Business School. As President of Information Strategies, Inc., a marketing and information firm targeting small businesses, she has been studying the HSAs marketplace. The company, based in Fort Lee, New Jersey, has been regularly polling small firms about healthcare issues for more than three years. It also produces online editorial service reaching almost one million regular small business readers each month.

At Eddie Bauer Karl Weiss is responsible for all benefits, work/life and recognition programs for 9,000 employees. During his 17 years with Eddie Bauer he has been responsible for developing/managing new benefit programs, creating new recognition initiatives and designing and fostering an award winning work/life program that focuses on benefits and policies that support employees in different career and life stages. He is a graduate of the University of Portland and he has a Masters Degree from Northern Illinois University.

• The importance of health plan and cost transparency
• Employee communication standards
• Decision support tools

Annette Watson is a well known expert and thought leader on quality, patient safety, and medical management in the United States. Ms. Watson joined URAC. Previously, Ms. Watson was the Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Alicare Medical Management (AMM), with operations in Salem, NH and headquarters in New York City. She began her managed care career at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of New Hampshire where she developed and implemented utilization and case management programs, including a highly acclaimed prenatal care and prematurity prevention program. She was a founder of the New England Association of Nurse Case Managers and remains active in the Case Management Society of America, currently serving as a representative on their Case Management Leadership Council. She is on the Board of Directors of the National Women Business Leaders in Health Care Industry Foundation. She has served as an adjunct faculty member for the University System of New Hampshire, College of Lifelong Learning. Ms. Watson holds an MBA in Leadership from Franklin Pierce College, a Bachelor of Science in Psychology and Sociology from New England College, an Associate of Science in Nursing from Bristol Community College, is licensed as a Registered Nurse in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and is a Certified Case Manager.

Health savings accounts are migrating from a political movement into the mainstream. Market share projections put HSAs at over 20% of all privately-insured covered lives by the year 2010. Missing is a realistic vision of how HSAs fit in with all of the other health insurance products, including HRAs and FSAs. This session presents a realistic view of HSA market potential based on (a) the latest market data on average bank deposits and long-term outlook, (b) growth in HSA bank accounts versus HSA insurance policies, and (c) the market entry rate of banks and custodians. Its conclusions:

• HSAs could peak out at the same market share as flexible spending accounts or perhaps 20% of private insurance
• High-deductible health plans could prove to be more popular alone than in combination with an HSA
• HSA market share currently depends almost entirely on the acceptance by consumers of an online bank to hold their HSA

William R. Boyles is the Editor & Publisher of Consumer Driven Market Report, an independent newsletter group financed by subscriptions only and accepting no advertising. Mr. Boyles started working in health care in 1971 as a medical claims review analyst for Blue Shield of Michigan, worked in the national offices of Blue Shield Association (Chicago), then earned an M.A. in Journalism from the University of Michigan (1973) with a specialty in health economics. He is a standing member of the U.S. House and Senate Periodical Press Galleries. In 1984 he founded the first national newsletter on the Health Maintenance Organization product, followed in 1989 by the first newsletter on PPOs, and in 2002 the first newsletter on consumer-driven health care. He is the author of numerous articles and commentaries in trade publications.