Regional leaders to discuss future of health care industry

By Matthew Biddle

BUFFALO, N.Y. — Leaders from the region’s top health systems, insurers, physician groups and community health organizations will come together on Oct. 26 for an all-day forum to discuss the current state and future of health care.

The event, starting at 8:30 a.m. at Templeton Landing in Buffalo, will be hosted by the University at Buffalo School of Management and the Healthcare Executive Forum, the local chapter of the American College of Healthcare Executives.

Titled “Health Care in 2018: What’s Next?”, the forum will examine health care through the lens of the Triple Aim, a landmark article published 10 years ago by Donald Berwick, MD, and adopted by many organizations as a framework for health care reform. The Triple Aim proposed that improving the U.S. health care system requires the simultaneous pursuit of three goals: improving care for individual patients, improving the health of populations and reducing per capita health care costs.

A decade later, how are we doing as a nation and as a region at meeting the Triple Aim? And what does the future of health care look like? Those are the questions experts will answer during this daylong event.

Nancy H. Nielsen, MD, PhD, senior associate dean for health policy and clinical professor in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB, will set the stage with a keynote presentation on national health care trends.

From there, Larry Zielinski, executive in residence for health care administration in the UB School of Management, will moderate four panel discussions, each exploring the industry from a different perspective. Zielinski previously spent 25 years in the industry, including terms as president of two health care organizations.

The panels, and the organizations that will be represented on them, are:

• Health systems: Catholic Health, Kaleida Health and Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center.
• Health plans: HealthNow, Independent Health and Univera Healthcare.
• Physicians: Buffalo Medical Group, Jericho Road Community Health Center and UBMD Family Medicine.
• Community advocates: African-American Health Disparities Task Force, Erie County Department of Senior Services, HEALTHeLINK and Population Health Collaborative.

The event will include breakfast and lunch, and conclude with a networking reception at 3:30 p.m. Advance registration is required. To learn more and register, visit tripleaim.eventzilla.net.

The forum is part of the UB School of Management’s robust portfolio of health care management programs, partnerships and events. The school also offers dual and collaborative programs that combine an MBA with another graduate degree in several health-related fields, an Accelerated MBA for Medical Residents and Fellows program, an MBA health care management concentration and several non-credit-bearing programs.