PROGRAM

SUMMARY

Introduction
           
            The current debate on the need for reform of the U.S. healthcare system has largely ignored the disparities in health and healthcare among Americans in terms of race, ethnicity and gender. Disparities in health based on class have been raised, but usually only to acknowledge that more than 44 million people do not have health insurance. The public has not benefited from a serious debate about why particular groups face disproportionate barriers to obtaining health insurance coverage or why they bear disproportionate burdens of poor hear health.  The failure to identify health disparities as   critical social, economic and moral problems is disturbing in light of the evidence that exists documenting the disproportionate hardships endured by many individuals and families. For example, numerous studies over the past decade have documented that people of color have shorter life expectancies and worse health and healthcare than whites.  See e.g. National Healthcare Disparities Report 2006 (U.S. Dept of Health and Human Services, The Office of Minority Health).  The report of the National Institute of Medicine, UNEQUAL TREAMENT: CONFRONTING RACIAL AND ETHNIC DISPARITIES IN HEALTH CARE (2002) highlighted some disturbing findings:

Evidence of racial and ethnic disparities in healthcare is, with few exceptions, remarkably consistent across a range of illnesses and healthcare services.  These disparities are associated with socieoeconomic differences and tend to diminish significantly, and in a few cases, disappear altogether when socioeconomic factors are controlled.  The majority of studies, however, find that racial and ethnic disparities remain even after adjustment for socieoeconomic differences and other health related factors…Id at 5.

            Pennsylvania has now joined the state governments that have acknowledged that the problems related to health disparities have such enormous economic and social consequences that state governments need to begin addressing the issue and has created  the Pa. Office of Health Equity. The Office of Health Equity  has been compiling information on disparities and best practices aimed at addressing those problems.  In the present conference we have the benefit of three speakers who were either involved in the creation of the Office of Health Equity. Dr. Calvin Johnson, our keynote speaker was Secretary of Health and the creation of the Office of Health Equity is due in large part to his leadership.  Marla Davis, Esq., currently Executive Director of the Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia served as Dr. Johnson’s Chief of Staff.  In addition, one of our panelists, Jamahal C. Boyd, is currently the Executive Director of the Pa. Office of Health Equity.

This conference will review and highlight findings of health disparities, offer explanations of the causes and propose strategies to reduce the disparities.  A helpful reference for approaching the study of health disparities appears in a report issued in December 1006 by the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene: MARYLAND PLAN TO ELIMINATE MINORITY HEALTH DISPARITIES (available at www.dhmh.state.md.us)  At the Temple conference we plan to explore the issues, but also to go beyond the debate to lay a foundation for the formation of multi-disciplinary partnerships that can both address specific problems and develop models for others to do the same. A critical examination of health disparities is particularly important in light of  States.

Each panel will identify and assess policies, practices and laws that impact on health disparities.  The issues reviewed will include, among other matters, individual behavior, environment, access to healthcare, and insurance coverage.  Panels will discuss the roles of federal, state and local governments, as well as profit and non-profit organizations.  Particular emphasis will be placed on the potential contributions that could be made by academic institutions to engage in research, teaching and other action that promotes the development of solutions to health disparities.  

            Included among the issues explored at the conference will be:

Specific types of disparities and the principal causes
Identification of Best Practices currently adopted to address disparities
Identification of policies, practices and laws that facilitate solutions or create barriers to solutions
Proposals for reform: Overcoming legal, economic, social, cultural and other significant barriers
Exploration of the roles or multi-disciplinary partnerships to address disparities

Planning Chairs:
Ron Iller (TUMHA), Linda Gehring (Nursing), Frank M. McClellan (Law), Joshua Zissman (Nursing)

Moderators:
MORNING PROGRAM-  
Frank M.McClellan, Beck Chair Professor of Law, Beasley School of Law, Temple University

AFTERNOON PROGRAM:
Brian McDonough, MD, KYW Newsradio Medical Editor, Clinical Professor of Family Medicine, Temple University School of Medicine

Panel One :

Perspectives and Experiences of the Underclass and Other Outsiders

Robin Foster Drain, Executive Director, To Our Children’s Future With Health, Inc.
Ronda Goldfein, Executive Director, AIDS Law Project
Jane Shull, Executive Director, Philadelphia FIGHT (Field Initiating Group for HIV Trials)
Michael Campbell, Esq, Villanova Univeristy School of Law (formerly from the Pennsylvania Health Law Project)

Topics or area of focus: Health disparities among children, patients with HIV/AIDS, and the elderly

Panel Two:

Race, Gender and Ethnicity:  Health Problems and Barriers

David Barton Smith, PhD, Center for Health Equality, Drexel University
Ruqaiijah A. Yearby, JD, University at Buffalo Law School and School of Public Health and Health Profession
Richard Eisenstaedt, MD, Chair of Department of Medicine, Abington Memorial Hospital
Jamahal C.Boyd, Director, Office of Health Equity, PA Dept. of Health, Office of Health Equity

Topics or areas of focus: Access to care and quality of care in hospitals, nursing homes, and primary healthcare centers: behavioral health issues

Panel Three:

Public Health Perspectives on Health Disparities

Scott Burris, Professor, Temple University Beasley School of Law
Nan Feyler, JD, MPH, Chief of Staff-Commissioner’s Office, Philadelphia Dept of Health
Jennifer K. Ibrahim, PhD, MPH, Temple University
Tine Hansen-Turton JD, MGA, CEO, National Nursing Centers Consortium, Vice President, Public Health Management Corporation

Topics or areas of focus: Impact of laws on individual behavior of citizens, patients and providers; the role of nurse practitioners

Keynote Speaker: 

Calvin Johnson, MD, MPH, VP & CMO, Temple University Health System.

Panel Four: 

Hospital Care:  Financial Impact of Caring for the Underserved

Beth Koob, General Counsel, Temple University Health System
Ala Stanford Frey, MD, Director, Center for Minority Health and Health Disparities, Temple University School of Medicine
Amy J. Goldberg, MD, Section Chief, Trauma and Surgical Critical Care, Temple University School of Medicine
Albert Black, COO, Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania

Panel Five:  

Aligning Financial Incentives with the Practice of Medicine

Richard Moses, DO, JD, Philadelphia Gastroenterology Consultants, LTD.
Donald Parks, MD
David Sayen, Regional Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Judy Harrington, Senior Vice-President, Health Partners
Patti Deitch, President & CEO, Delaware Valley Community Health

Panel Six:

Proposals for Reform

Barry R. Furrow, Professor, Drexel University, Earle Mack School of Law
Marla Rae Davis, JD, Executive Director Anti-Violence Partnership of Philadelphia
Steve Permut, JD, MD, Chairperson – Dept Family and Community Medicine, Temple School of Medicine
Professor Tom Getzen, Professor, Temple University Fox School of Business