World Congress - The Leader in Health Care, Pharmaceutical and Marketing Conferences

HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt on Wednesday urged his successor to continue with the Bush administration's "four cornerstones" initiative that promotes collaborative efforts to improve the national health care system and reduce costs, CQ HealthBeat reports. more»

We're talking a lot about money and business models that work here at WHCC. We're all looking for ways to implement consumer-centric care - how will a primary focus on the patient become embodied in our healthcare system? more»

The secretary of the Health and Human Services Department urged his successor Wednesday to continue the department’s work toward a value-driven health care system he said would help lower costs and improve care. more»

The fifth edition of the World Health Care Congress (WHCC) in Washington brings together more than 2,000 CEOs, senior executives and government officials from the nation's largest employers, hospitals, health systems, health plans, pharmaceutical and biotech companies, and government agencies. more»

The presidential debate on health care with this election is the most sophisticated, well-informed discussion we have every had on the national agenda in America" George Halvorson, chairman and CEO of Kaiser Foundation Health Plans and Hospitals, told attendees yesterday at the fifth annual World Health Care Congress. more»

Michael Leavitt, Secretary, Department of Health and Human Services spoke at the April 23 session of the World Health Care Congress on the topic of the value driven health care system.

He noted a study from Harvard has just been released showing that life expectancy is decreasing. This gives greater urgency to the topic of reform. Health care must change and while it may take a decade, the success or failure of pulling this off may define the success of this generation. more»

WASHINGTON, D.C. (APRIL 23, 2008) -- A social-based retirement living environment – when coupled with on-site medical centers, electronic medical records, wellness and fitness programs, and a Medicare-approved health plan – will result in cost effective health care that improves outcomes and increases patient satisfaction. That is the finding of an Erickson Health White Paper entitled “The High cost of Health Care for Seniors: Challenges and Solutions” presented this week at the World Health Care Congress in Washington, D.C. that was attended by more than 2,000 of the nation’s top health care leaders. more»

WASHINGTON - (Business Wire) OptumHealth reported from the World Health Care Congress today that 87 percent of consumers surveyed after participating in the company’s new Decision Support program said they received “meaningful, understandable information” to help them make health care decisions. Ninety-six percent said they were satisfied with the help they received. more»

After hearing Grant Harrison (VP, Integrated Consumer Experience) speak a few times on stage yesterday about his role at Humana, I was glad that I had time booked with him to learn more about what he does. I found it to be a very interesting discussion. Grant works in the Innovation group at Humana, and he brings a background which includes Virgin HealthMiles where I believe he was one of the founders and time at Tesco and SkyTV (among other consumer facing experiences). more»

I listened to part of the initial presentation by Hans Rosling from Sweden which was very interesting, but I was mostly getting coordinated for the day.

I am very excited to sit down and listen to George Halvorson’s presentation called “A Practical Model to Achieve Health Reform”. [George is the Chairman and CEO of Kaiser and recently wrote the book Healthcare Reform Now! A Prescription for Change. Some of my notes on this are here although I am still finishing up the book.] more»

Only 2% of consumers are currently using a PHR, according to Revolution Health CMO, Jeff Gruen at the World Health Care Congress on a panel with Graham Pallett (Carol) and Jeff Rideout (Health Evolution Partners). more»

TIRAT CARMEL, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InSightec Ltd. today announced that it will exhibit at the 5th Annual World Health Care Congress in Washington, DC from April 21-23. The company will feature the only FDA approved MR Guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery (MRgFUS) device, the ExAblate® 2000, which has been used to treat uterine fibroids non-invasively, minimizing trauma, morbidity and recovery time. In addition to enhancing patient care, the procedure has a significant economic impact reducing overall medical costs when compared to conventional surgery. Uterine fibroid is a pervasive condition that impacts up to 70% of women of childbearing age and can lead to serious symptoms. more»

WASHINGTON, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The 5th Annual World Health Care Congress kicks off today (April 21) in Washington, D.C. with health care policy advisors for U.S. Presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain, all of whom will be featured on the Presidential Health Care Agenda forum. The advisors will present and compare both candidates' health care reform plans, the prospect of universal coverage and fiscal stability of Medicare. more»

We are just starting the 4th general session here. [This is harder to do real-time blogging than I thought…and keep paying attention.] The panel is Toby Cosgrove from the Cleveland Clinic, Grant Harrison from Humana, and Lee Shapiro from Allscripts. Justin Fox from Time and Clayton Christensen from HBS are the moderators. more»

As part of my opportunity to be part of the press at the World Healthcare Congress, I opted to interview some of the participants and speakers. This is my first of several that I have scheduled. I had a chance to sit down with Phyllis Anderson who is the VP of Corporate Marketing for Humana. She has an interesting background from Pillsbury, Nabisco, and Bank of America as I discovered when I asked her what they were doing to bring in non-healthcare people to help them address consumerism within healthcare. Her story about working on healthier snack foods where they wanted to protect the quality of taste while addressing the healthy trends in the US seems very applicable. more»

Joanne Silberner from NPR is moderating a panel on the Presidential HC Agenda which includes people from McCain, Clinton, and Obama’s campaign. more»

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan/Hospitals CEO George Halvorson joined with a number of Kaiser Permanente employees and physicians who provided key insights at the fifth annual World Health Care Congress this week in Washington, D.C. more»

Washington, DC - I’m going to be attending the 2008 5th annual World Health Care Congress for three days starting tomorrow. I’ll be blogging here and at the World Health Care Blog, as well as sharing interesting insights from the speakers on Twitter. more»

Berlin, March 13, 2008 -- By bringing 600 government and industry leaders together from more than 50 countries, the “World Health Care Congress Europe" (WHCCE), which began Monday, offered a splendid window on the wide variety of solutions that countries around the world are using as they struggle toward health care reform. One constant theme of the conference: “No One Thing Works.” more»