The Hill: Future of Healthcare Summit

Purpose: This briefing is a composition of a myriad of policy conundrums in health and healthcare policy. Such topics were discussed during an event hosted by The Hill. I plan to use this event as an “information catalogue,” given that there are so many topics that I can explore from an economic perspective. From biotechnology to patient-centered care, these topics will enhance my understanding of the many elements that constitute domestic and global healthcare economic markets, and how I can propose sustainable policy solutions to improve them. These notes will prepare me for further economic analyses of efficient policies and programs. This post demonstrates my ability to compose comprehensive notes on a variety of health-related policy areas.

Date: Wednesday,
June 26, 2019

Location: Long
View Gallery, 1234 9^th St. NW, Washington, DC 20001

Time (start-end):
9:00 am – 3:15 pm

Estimated attendance:
Approximately 200 people in attendance

Seating arrangement (diagram): Conference room

Hosts, Panel, Keynote Speakers:

• Dr. Amy Abernethy, Principal Deputy Commissioner & Acting Chief Information Officer, US Food and Drug Administration
• Dr. Justin Barad, Co-Founder and CEO, OSSO VR
• Dr. Georges Benjamin, Executive Director, APHA (via video conference)
• Senator Bill Cassidy (R-LA), Member Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions
• Paul Cohen, Vice President of Strategy, One Medical
• Dr. Rena Conti, Associate Research Director, Institute for Health System Innovation and Policy, Boston University
• Dr. Dennis Cryer, Co-Convener, Biologics Prescribers Collaborative
• Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, Vice Provost of Global Initiatives, University of Pennsylvania
• Matt Eyles, President and CEO, America’s Health Insurance Plans
• Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases
• David Genetti, President, Clinical Technologies, Astarte Medical
• Colin Hill, Chairman, CEO and Founder, GNS Healthcare
• Leah Howard, Chief Operating Officer, National Psoriasis Foundation
• Julia Jenkins, Executive Director, Everylife Foundation
• Ann Mond Johnson, CEO, American Telemedicine Association
• J. Stephen Jones, President and CEO, Inova
• Dr.Scott Koenig, President and CEO, Macrogenics
• Lisa Lacasse, President, American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network
• Dr. Rachel Levine, Secretary, Pennsylvania Department of Health
• Senator Joe Manchin (D-WV), Ranking Member, Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources
• Janet Marchibroda, Fellow, Health Innovation, Bipartisan Policy Center
• R. Shawn Martin, Sr. Vice President, Advocacy Practice Advancement and Policy, American Association of Family Physicians
• Dr. Laquandra Nesbitt, Director, District of Columbia Department of Health
• Steve Papermaster, CEO and Founder, Nano Vision and Former Senior Advisor to President George W. Bush
• Dr. Karlyne Reilly, Director, Rare Tumor Initiative, National Cancer Institute Center of Cancer Research
• Lori Reilly, Executive Vice President, Policy, Research and Membership, PhRMA
• Andrew Spiegel, Executive Director, Global Colon Cancer Association
• Representative Greg Walden, Ranking Member, Energy & Commerce Committee
• Laura Wingate, SVP, Education, Support and Advocacy, Crohn’s & Colitis Foundation
• Dr. Elias Zerhouni, Professor Emeritus, Johns Hopkins University, Former Director, National Institutes of Health

Organizations represented:

• The Hill
• Biotechnology Innovation Organization
• Horizon
• Amgen Biosimilars
• American Public Health Association

Brief summary of presentations and dialogue:

Health Policy Blueprint: View from Congress

• Senator Manchin
  • He spoke of the necessity to have more options
    and more incentives in the health care system.
  • Some Congressmen/women worry about investment in
    biotechnology and medical innovation at a time when the health care system
    needs to be restructured.
  • ACA needs to be reformed, not eliminated.
  • A hint of talk about doubling the NIH budget.
  • Opioid addiction and prevention are top
    priorities.
• Senator Cassidy
  • Biggest issue affecting Louisiana residents:
    high drug costs.
  • Surprise billing legislation should pass by the
    end of July.
  • Support for Association Health Plans.
  • Republican health care package would be
    market-based and provide leverage for the patient.
  • Price transparency is a top priority.
  • Apprehensive about the insolvency of Medicare
    and not a supporter of Medicare-for-All.
  • Rural hospital care and telemedicine are emerging
    topics on the Hill.

The Innovation Ecosystem

• Fixing financing for access to therapies is of
  upmost importance.
• Innovation in prevention is lacking, so reform
  is crucial for substantial system reform.

Sponsor Perspective: Biotechnology Innovation Organization

• Biotechnology Innovation Organization’s members
  innovate 60% of drugs marketed to patients.
• Issue: lack of accessibility to affordable
  biotechnological innovations.
• Solution: reforming insurance plans – both
  private and public – to accommodate biologic, biosimilar, and medical device
  coverage.

Technology Transforming Care

• Addressing the rural and urban divide in
  telemedicine.
• Discussion of the role of primary care and
  advanced medical technology.
• Virtual care is a significant milestone; however,
  the issue now lies in the fragmentation of care.
• Precision medicine is a core medical model that
  would lower health care spending by 25%, improve patient outcomes, and lower
  health care costs for patients.

Regulation in the Innovation Age

• Reforming the 21^st Century Cures Act.
• The approval of biosimilars is gaining traction
  in Congress.
• The rising usage of technology in medicine is
  leading to patient privacy concerns.

Patient-Centered Care: What’s Next?

• Addressing the social determinants of health.
• Progression towards a value-based,
  patient-centered model is possible within the next couple of decades.
• Health care system may become decentralized due
  to a value-based model of care.
• Reformation of the electronic health record
  system to promote consistency between inpatient and outpatient providers.
• Issues pertaining to the affordability of the
  system.
• Addressing three tenets of patient health
  performance: health security, housing security, and economy security.

Data-Driven Cures

• Despite tremendous advancements in medicine, we
  have made the least progress in giving patients access to these innovations.
• Social determinants of health should be factored
  into the equation.

The Future of Public Health

• Addressing the social determinants of health –
  they care not health-based; however, they influence health outcomes.
• Policy Solutions: upstream approach to care,
  updated data systems, data-driven policy initiatives and access to data.
• Emphasis on improving health promotion and
  health prevention.
• Constructing a health preparedness framework
  that can address various issues pertaining to patient health.
• Rural hospitals are stifled by the
  fee-for-service model; a population health model is a solution.

Supporting Patients: A Policy Approach

• Surprise billing is a pertinent issue affecting
  patients and families.
• Innovations in medicine are not the problem; it
  is affordability and insurance coverage.
• Telehealth should be modernized, such as
  allowing doctors to cross state lines.
• Reformation of the VA.

Summary of Q&A:

• Focus on how innovation can impact prevention
  measures and procedures.