Agenda
7:45 am to
8:45 am
Registration and continental breakfast (exhibit viewing and networking)
8:45
am to 9:00 am
Welcome/Opening Remarks
Joseph P. Ditré, Esq., Consumers for Affordable Health Care
9:00
am to 9:45 am
The Leading Edge of a Movement
Governor John E. Baldacci
9:45
am to 10:15 am
The National Importance of Dirigo Health
Ron Pollack, Families USA
15 minute BREAK and exhibit viewing
10:30
am to 10:45 pm
Dirigo Health Overview and Panel
Trish Riley, Governor’s Office of Health Policy and Finance
10:45
am to 12:00 noon
Panel: The Need for Dirigo Health
Randy Roberts, owner, Chase's Home Furnishings; David Brenerman, UnumProvident
Corp.; Barbara Weiss, Individual
12:00
noon to 1:15 pm Luncheon Speaker
William E. Haggett, CEO, Naturally Potatoes, former CEO, Bath Iron Works
15 minute BREAK and exhibit viewing
1:30
pm to 3:30 pm - Workshops
Two-Hour
Workshops (choose
one)
A: Eliminating Health Disparities
Carol Carothers, NAMI-Maine; David Hartley, Muskie School of Public Policy,
Institute for Health Policy; Mary Jude, Penobscot Community Health Center;
Juan Perez-Febles, Migrant and Immigrant Services, Maine Department of
Labor; Rachel Talbot Ross, City of Portland; Carl Toney, College of Health
Professions,UNE, moderator
Health disparities are inequalities in health status among distinct segments of the population. This workshop will focus on these differences in health status in Maine for various racial and ethnic minorities, persons with mental illness, and rural communities and will examine what can be done to reduce or eliminate these disparities.
B: Cost and Quality of Health Care: Controlling Costs
through Quality Improvement
Eric Steele, D.O., Vice President for Patient Care Services, Eastern Maine
Medical Center; Maureen Kenney, BIW; Dr. David Wennberg, Division of Health
Services Research, Maine Medical Center; Dennis Shubert, Maine Quality
Forum, moderator
The Dirigo Health system includes the Maine Quality
Forum to improve the quality of care in Maine. Employers and researchers
have been working to control costs and improve quality of health care
for employers and workers. This panel will discuss information that BIW’s
management-labor group has gathered on health care costs and quality and
what two leading researchers have found, with special emphasis given to
controlling hospital costs.
C: Tools to Contain Rising Hospital Costs: A Dialogue
Between Hospitals and Employers, and Labor
Scott Bullock, MaineGeneral Medical Center; Kevin Gildart, BIW; Richard
Marston, Fraser Paper Co.; Lucien Deschaine, United Paperworkers International
Union; Richard Batt, Franklin Memorial Hospital; Joe Ditré, Consumers
for Affordable Health Care, moderator
Health care costs have been rising steadily in Maine. Hospital costs represent the largest share of those costs. Maine businesses and organized labor have been working together to improve the quality of care and reduce costs at their businesses. This dialogue will focus on the tools that are available to businesses, workers, and hospitals to collaborate to achieve lower costs of care and improved outcomes. Some topics for discussion will include employer-labor quality improvement programs and reports, the voluntary cost controls included in the Dirigo Health legislation, revising Maine's certificate of need program to control spending by health care providers on new services, buildings, and equipment and promote equal access to care, and the State Health Plan, among other methods of health care cost containment and quality improvement.
Or...One-Hour Workshops (choose two)
D: Covering Kids and Families: What’s Happening
with Medicaid in Maine?
Lisa Webber, Consumers for Affordable Health Care; Darcy Shargo, Maine
Primary Care Association; Chris Hastedt, Maine Equal Justice
This workshop will touch upon the basic elements of MaineCare, which offers free and low-cost health care coverage to eligible adults, parents and their children, even if the adult is working. The workshop will also cover Medicaid and Medicare developments at the federal level. Small business owners, government employees and leaders of education, faith, health, and social service organizations are especially encouraged to attend.
E: RealBenefits: Using Technology to Determine Eligibility
for Benefit Programs
Enrique Balaguer, Community Catalyst, Inc.
RealBenefits™ is an exciting new web-based tool that enables social service agencies, health care providers, employer human resource officers, and others to quickly and accurately determine eligibility for public benefit programs such as MaineCare, Maine Rx Plus, Medicare Part B Premium Assistance, Pharmaceutical Manufactures Association discount drug programs, Food Stamps and the Earned Income Tax Credit, among others. Learn how this web-based tool could improve the efficiency of your organization and enable your clients or employees to get the assistance for which they qualify.
F: Health Care Advocacy 101
Carol Kelly, Maine Coalition on Smoking or Health; Amy Thompson, Maine
People's Alliance; Hilary Schneider, Consumers for Affordable Health Care,
moderator
Learn the basics of health care advocacy. This seminar will teach you some skills and strategies that will allow you to advocate effectively on behalf of yourself, your business, or your organization in Augusta.
G: Nuts & Bolts of Dirigo Health Enrollment
Karynlee Harrington, Executive Director, Dirigo Health Agency; Sharon
Roberts, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield; Beth Kilbreth, Muskie School;
Jim Parker, CEO, Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield, moderator
Learn from the experts. This workshop will provide you with the information you need to understand and enroll in DirigoChoice as an individual, a self-employed person, a sole proprietor, or small business.
H: Eliminating Access Barriers for MaineCare
Anne Donovan, Penquis Community Action Program (PCAP); Debbie Roberts,
York CAP; Mary Henderson, Maine Equal Justice, moderator
Obtaining MaineCare coverage may be only half the battle. Enrollees often face barriers, such as childcare, communications, and transportation, which prevent them from taking full advantage of their health care coverage. Two community action programs have collected survey data identifying significant barriers to obtaining MaineCare covered services. This forum will provide an opportunity for the panelists and the audience to discuss these barriers and strategies to overcome them.
I: Maine’s State Health Plan: Bringing it to the
Community
Megan Hannan, American Cancer Society; Ed Miller, American Lung Association;
Lisa Miller, former President MPHA, Program Officer, Bingham Program,
moderator; Joanne Joy, Getting Healthy; George Mueller, Penobscot Bay
YMCA
The Governor's Office of State Health Policy issued the one-year State Health Plan on July 23, 2004. The goal of the State Health Plan is to "help Mainers become the healthiest people in the U.S. by strategically improving the allocation and coordination of our health care resources." The first biennial State Health Plan will be adopted by July 2005. This workshop examines what organizations and businesses can do on a local level to inform citizens about the State Health Plan, its importance to their daily lives in terms of health care services and access to health coverage, opportunities for deploying resources into public health, and how citizens can get involved in the development process of the biennial health plan before July 2005.
15 minute BREAK and exhibit viewing
3:45
pm to 5:00 pm
Call to Action: Small Business and Large Business Discuss Opportunities
and Challenges
Jeff Hanson, Regional Health Care Manager, Verizon;
Brent Churchill, Fraser Paper
6:00
pm to 9:00 pm
For those people who also registered for the Celebratory Dinner Honoring
Governor John E. Baldacci, please click on the link below for more
information and directions.
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