Opening Keynote Address
Borrow My Eyes: A Close, Integrated Look into the Future of Healthcare
Monday, July 21, 2008 
8:30 am – 10:15 am
Sponsor: Kimberly-Clark
Powerful new pharmaceuticals and technologies, shifts in payment structures, and the emergence of networked automation as an industry-wide theme will re-shape healthcare in the remaining years of this decade and beyond. But the most forceful vector of change is the growing transparency of the industry, which will combine with data-mining techniques of unprecedented power. These changes will unite with increasing vigor to create a nearly inexorable shift toward a new kind of healthcare market, and in the process, force everyone in healthcare to re-define, re-envision, and re-engineer their markets, their institutions, their processes, and their very jobs. Early movers, who understand the implications and markers of this shift, will gain experience and market advantage over organizations that fail to notice and take advantage of the new environment.
This session will show how healthcare in the United States could cost 50% less and return a much higher quality, while providing for all Americans. In addition, the factors that will force healthcare into this drastic and essential change as well as the radical restructurings and bold new management techniques healthcare institutions will need to achieve it will also be illustrated.
Joe Flower, a leading futurist, founder, and CEO of Imagine What If, Inc. and the Healthcare Futures Exchange, brings key insights to healthcare, technology, and demographics. He has been writing, speaking, and consulting about change and the future for two decades. Flower is author or co-author of Encyclopedia of Computers and Computer History, China’s Futures, The 21st Century Healthcare Leader, The Encyclopedia of the Future, Prince of the Magic Kingdom: Michael Eisner and the Re-Making of Disney, Age Wave, and hundreds of articles. He is also a contributing editor at Hospitals and Health Networks Online and Physician Executive. His clients include the U.S. Department of Defense, the U.K. National Health Service, the World Health Organization, the Global Business Network, Booz Allen Hamilton, AirBus, ArianeSpace, Kaiser Permanente, and Hoffman-LaRoche.
A founding member of the International Health Futures Network, Flower holds a masters degree from San Francisco State University with post-graduate work in education at the University of California Berkeley. He also holds the rank of shodan (black belt) in Aikido.
General Session Panel Discussion
Healthcare's Cry for Data Accuracy Heard Across the Nation for Patient Safety and Reduced Costs
Monday, July 21, 2008 10:30 am – 11:30 am
Sponsor: Ethicon, Inc.
Compared to other industries, healthcare is lagging behind when it comes to implementing the tools needed to streamline its supply chain – data standards and synchronization. By collaborating with manufacturers, distributors, and GPOs, the nation's largest hospital systems are advocating the necessary changes today to positively impact patient safety and care, as well as save the entire healthcare industry billions of dollars.
The value of data accuracy and product data synchronization to healthcare as it is redefining itself as part of a global, multi-industry supply chain, will be shared during the panel discussion. Standards are necessary for hospitals to do business in today's global marketplace and to support current legislation for a Unique Device Identifier (UDI) program, Electronic Health Records (EHR), radio frequency identification (RFID), and other emerging technologies.
Lessons learned from these distinguished IDNs and a leading global manufacturer make a compelling case for why data synchronization is needed now and why the industry should go beyond endorsing GS1 and the global data synchronization network (GDSN) and move to adoption and implementation. This session will set the tone for the entire conference as well as AHRMM’s work towards global data synchronization in healthcare.
Panel Presenters
Panel Moderator Dom Giordano, a popular and respected radio talk show host, will blend a common-sense philosophy with an enjoyable listening style to create a panel discussion that is informative, enlightening, and thought-provoking. A current host for the CBS Radio Network, Giordano has been a talk show host and frequent commentator since 1987. He has appeared on MSNBC, the Fox News Channel, and CNN and has been interviewed on C-SPAN, the BBC, and numerous other newscasts. In 1995, Giordano became the first Philadelphia broadcaster to be named one of the “Top 100 Most Influential Talk Show Hosts in America” by Talkers Magazine, a leading publication of the talk radio industry. During his career, he has interviewed President George W. Bush, President Jimmy Carter, Vice President Dick Cheyney, Director Rob Reiner, Jay Leno, and football legend Coach Joe Paterno, just to name a few, and has also been a contributing writer on educational topics to several newspapers throughout the Philadelphia region. A graduate from LaSalle University, Giordano earned a Masters degree in Education from Antioch University and also attended Rutgers University Law School from 1979 to 1982.
Panelist, Dr. Michael A. Hillman, MD, MBA, is the Vice-President for Patient Safety at the System Office for Ascension Health, one of the nation’s largest healthcare organizations with more than 65 hospitals in 22 states. In this position, he is the executive sponsor for the Ascension Health Patient Safety Center, the organization’s enterprise data management system. Before joining Ascension, Dr. Hillman was the Medical Director of Quality Improvement & Care Management at Marshfield Clinic, a large multi-specialty group practice serving central, northern, and western Wisconsin. There, he chaired a task force to re-design primary care at the facility, including: the development of a new telemedicine program, the application of a Physician Group Practice Demonstration, and the creation of ProActive Health, 24-7 telephonic nursing service that provides symptom-based advice and disease/care management services. In addition, Dr. Hillman directed the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Physician Group Practice (‘pay-for-performance’) Demonstration and was the Clinical Director for Family Health Center of Marshfield, Inc. – a federally funded community health center. Prior to his tenure at Marshfield, Dr. Hillman was a clinical neurologist at Sinai Hospital of Baltimore and an Assistant Professor of Neurology at Johns Hopkins. A neurology graduate from Medical College of Pennsylvania, Dr. Hillman completed his Internal Medicine and Neuropathology training at Case Western Reserve. He also holds Master of Business Administration from the University of St. Thomas and a ‘Six-Sigma Black Belt Certificate’ from Villanova University.
With over 25 years of senior management experience outside the healthcare industry, Brent Johnson, Vice President of Supply Chain, Chief Purchasing Officer for Intermountain Healthcare, has a passion for supply chain management best practices. Prior to joining Intermountain Healthcare in June 2005 as a result of a national search, Johnson worked for three major companies developing and implementing successful supply chain strategies for several years. In addition, he worked as a supply management consultant for three years. Johnson holds an MBA from the University of Utah.
Other presenters participating in the panel discussion include: Dennis Black, Director of e-Business for BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company); Joe Dudas, Director of Accounting and Supply Chain Informatics for Mayo Clinic; and Vance Moore, President for Resource Optimization and Innovation, an operating division of the Sisters of Mercy Health System.
General Session
Supply Chain Issues and Insights: Examining the 2008 National C-Suite and Supply Chain Leadership Survey
Tuesday, July 22, 2008 9:00 am – 10:30 am
The 2008 National C-Suite and Supply Chain Leadership Survey, sponsored by Owens & Minor, captures the awareness and perspectives on the state of the healthcare supply chain and covers the satisfaction and priorities of supply chain performance and opportunities. With survey questions to CEOs, CFOs, and other supply chain leaders on current issues – supply expense becoming the largest provider expense category, technology investment ROI, impact of supply chain performance on nurse satisfaction and retention, and more – this session will compare and contrast key findings from the 2007 survey presented at the AHRMM’s 45th Annual Conference & Exhibition in San Diego, CA with key findings from the 2008 survey.
The presentation will include an interpretation of the responses plus a call-to-action for discussion. Upon review of the survey findings, attendees will be able to recognize the top supply chain management priorities for the C-Suite and any gaps between the C-Suite and supply chain leaders’ thinking; develop a dialog for strategic planning; interpret the C-Suite’s perceptions of supply chain performance and produce an action plan for dealing with them; and create a communications plan to educate the C-Suite about supply chain issues and developments, so they can be better prepared to optimize performance.
Since 1972, Jamie C. Kowalski has developed and utilized his specialization in healthcare and hospital supply chain management as an executive, advisor, thought leader, and consultant. As Managing Director, Business Development for Owens & Minor, Kowalski works with all company business units to evaluate and enhance current services, identify and develop new services, establish business alliances, and develop new customer strategies and relationships.
Kowalski’s other experiences include: Director of Supply Chain Management and Assistant Vice President for Support Services in community and tertiary hospitals as well as Marketing Manager and Logistics Analyst for a supply manufacturer/distributor. He has served as Vice President, Strategy & Development for McKesson Provider Technologies, a unit of McKesson Corporation, and founded Kowalski-Dickow Associates, Inc. (KDA) in 1980, an internationally recognized, leading hospital supply chain management specialty consulting firm, where he served as its CEO until 2004. Kowalski earned his MBA and BS degrees in Business Administration at Marquette University.
Closing Keynote Address
Dedication, Pride, and Commitment: The Story of Black Hawk Down
Wednesday, July 23, 2008 8:00 am – 9:00 am
The 2001 Oscar-winning epic film, Black Hawk Down, details the heroic account of a group of 123 elite United States soldiers sent into Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993 as part of a United Nations peacekeeping operation to capture two top lieutenants of a renegade warlord. Young Rangers and veteran Delta Force soldiers fought side-by-side, were outnumbered and surrounded for 18 hours in the most hostile district of Mogadishu until a rescue convoy could be mounted to retrieve them. As a part of that near-disastrous mission, both as a survivor and a hero, Sergeant Eversmann, portrayed by Josh Harnett in the film, will bring to life his experience, what he took from it, and humanize the creed by which he lived, “Never shall I fail my comrades…Rangers lead the way!” Both inspiring and patriotic, this presentation will focus on the three attributes that brought him home alive: leadership, courage, and selfless service.
By looking at the military, this session will show all that is great with America. Service to others, communities, and the nation is important, and great leadership is only 30% of the solution. To be successful in combat, the order of precedence must always be the mission first, the good of the unit, and lastly, the individual. Leaders must have outstanding followers who like and believe in what they are doing, and that only happens if and when leaders invest in their subordinates. By tracing his successes, Sergeant Eversmann will show that failure is yours alone; your achievements are due to those who took the time to invest in you.
Sergeant Matt Eversmann is immortalized in the epic film Black Hawk Down and co-authored the 2004 book, The Battle of Mogadishu, which tell the heroic story of the elite United States soldiers sent to Somalia in 1993 as part of a United Nations peacekeeping operation. He is a survivor, a hero, and a leader who began his service in the Army in 1987 with the 10th Mountain Division. Five years later, he reenlisted and was assigned to the Third Battalion, Seventy-Fifth Ranger Regiment. For over eight years he served as a squad leader, weapons squad leader, battalion air operations sergeant, battalion liaison sergeant, and platoon sergeant in the regiment. He was also the officer in charge of the 75th Ranger Regiment’s Pre Ranger Course. In1993, Eversmann was deployed to Mogadishu, Somalia in support of Operation Gothic Serpent.
Eversmann is a graduate from the Master Fitness School, Jumpmaster School, Special Operations Tactics Course, and the Equal Opportunity Course. A highly decorated soldier, some of his awards include: the Army Service Ribbon, the National Defense Service Ribbon, eight Army Achievement Medals, four Army Commendation Medals, the Leadership Award at Ranger School, and the Expert Infantryman’s Badge. For his service in Somalia, he was awarded the Bronze Star Medal with Valor device and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge. He has been featured on Larry King Live and Dateline with Stone Phillips and has been a lecturer at West Point, Annapolis, and the Air Force Academy. Currently, Eversmann is a senior instructor at the Johns Hopkins University ROTC Department. He recently returned to the United States after serving 18 months in Iraq.
Book Signing: A special book signing will be held immediately following Sergeant Eversmann’s Closing Keynote Address. Books will be available for purchase at the AHRMM Bookstore during the duration of the conference.
