Roundtable on 50th anniversary of Medicare: Photos, video, news coverage

IHPI director John Ayanian, M.D., MPP; U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell, former U.S. Rep. John Dingell, Ford School dean Susan Collins and IHPI deputy director Matt Davis, M.D., MAPP

On Tuesday, Aug. 11, IHPI and the Ford School of Public Policy held a special event in honor of the 50th anniversary of Medicare, and the 80th anniversary of Social Security. In addition to a panel of U-M faculty who have studied these two systems or used data from them in their research, the event featured special guests U.S. Rep. Debbie Dingell and former U.S. Rep. John Dingell, who helped create the original Medicare legislation.

Hosts:

John Z. Ayanian, M.D., M.P.P.

Director, Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation; Alice Hamilton Professor of Medicine

Professor of Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health

Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Dr. Ayanian’s research is focused on effects of race, ethnicity, gender and insurance coverage on access to care and clinical outcomes, and the impact of physician specialty and organizational characteristics on the quality of care for cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and other major health conditions. He has led numerous studies assessing access to care, quality of care, and health care disparities. A practicing primary care physician he was elected to the Institute of Medicine, the American Society for Clinical Investigation, and the Association of American Physicians; he also is a fellow of the American College of Physicians.

Susan M. Collins, Ph.D.

Joan and Sanford Weill Dean of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Professor of Economics, College of Literature, Science, and the Arts

Dean Collins’ area of expertise is international economics, including issues in both macroeconomics and trade. Her research interests center on determinants of economic growth in developed and developing economies, and issues raised by increasing cross-national economic integration. Dean Collins is currently also a nonresident senior fellow in the Economic Studies program at Brookings, a member of the Board of Directors of the Detroit Branch of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. She was elected President of the Association for Professional Schools of International Affairs (APSIA), for a 2-year term beginning June 1, 2013.

Participants:

A. Rick Bossard
Government Relations Representative, University of Michigan Health System

Rick Bossard has represented UMHS in Washington, D.C. and Lansing since 1983. The primary focus of this representation has been the reimbursement and health policy aspects of Medicare/Medicaid. The Veterans Administration is a particular interest, as well. Mr. Bossard is a member of the Board of Directors for The Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation (CHRT) Board of Directors and serves as the Public Policy/Political Lead for the CHRT Healthcare Policy Fellowship Program, which he helped initiate.

Matthew M. Davis, M.D., M.A.P.P.

Deputy Director, Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation

Professor of Pediatrics and Communicable Diseases and Internal Medicine, Medical School

Professor of Public Policy, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy

Director, C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health

Dr. Davis served as the State of Michigan's Chief Medical Executive from 2013 - 2015. His current research and teaching focuses on innovations and reform in healthcare delivery, as well as measurement of public attitudes and perceptions regarding health and health policy. Dr. Davis is the faculty lead for the M.D./M.P.P. dual degree program at the U-M. He also serves as a mentor for research fellows and graduate students, for which he was honored with the MICHR Distinguished Mentorship Award in 2012, and as an active clinician within the U-M Health System.

Mark Fendrick, M.D.

Professor, Division of General Medicine, Department of Internal Medicine and Department of Health Management and Policy

Director, University of Michigan Center for Value-Based Insurance Design

Dr. Fendrick conceptualized and coined the term Value-Based Insurance Design (V-BID) and currently directs the V-BID Center at U-M, the leading advocate for development, implementation, and evaluation of innovative health benefit plans. His research focuses on how clinician payment and consumer engagement initiatives impact access to care, quality of care, and health care costs. Dr. Fendrick has received numerous awards for the creation and implementation of V-BID. He is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences, serves on the Medicare Coverage Advisory Committee, and has been invited to present testimony before the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions and the U.S. House of Representatives Ways and Means Subcommittee on Health.

James (Jim) K. Haveman, M.S.W.

President, The Haveman Group

Former Director, Michigan Department of Community Health

James Haveman was appointed by Governor Rick Snyder (MI) as the Director of the Michigan Department of Community Health in September 2012. He was chosen to drive the Governor’s aggressive health and wellness agenda forward - a critical piece for reinventing Michigan. Mr. Haveman retired from that position in September 2014. He previously served in this position from 1996 - 2003 and as the Department of Mental Health Director from 1991 - 1996. He is President of the consulting firm, the Haveman Group and is on the Board of the Grand Rapids Public Museum, Youngsoft Inc., and H2H Solutions. He also serves as the Finance Chair of the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan’s Foundation Board.

Peter D. Jacobson, J.D., M.P.H.

Professor of Health Law and Policy, School of Public Health

Director, Center for Law, Ethics, and Health

President, Public Health Law Association

Before coming to the University of Michigan, Dr. Jacobson was Senior Behavioral Scientist at RAND from 1988 to 1996. Jacobson's current research interests focus on the relationship between law and health care delivery, law and public health systems, public health ethics, and health care safety net services. His recent studies have examined public health entrepreneurship, the impact of state and federal law on public health preparedness, and enhancing organizational and operational efficiencies in Michigan's health care safety net providers. He is currently the Associate Editor for Health Law and Public Health at the Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law. Dr. Jacobson has been a member of the Washtenaw County (Michigan) Board of Health since January, 2015.

Eve A. Kerr, M.D., M.P.H.

Director, VA Center for Clinical Management Research

Professor of Internal Medicine, Medical School

In addition to her other leadership roles, Dr. Kerr is Research Director of the VA Quality Enhancement Research Initiative for Diabetes Mellitus. She is a nationally recognized expert in research on quality assessment and improvement and was elected to the American Society of Clinical Investigation in 2009. Dr. Kerr has been instrumental in the development of the RAND QA Tools system, and in demonstrating a VA quality advantage relative to patients in the private sector. She has spoken nationally and internationally about performance measurement issues and translating quality improvement lessons from VA to other healthcare systems.

Kenneth M. Langa, M.D., Ph.D.

Professor Internal Medicine, Gerontology, and Health Management and Policy

Research Investigator, Ann Arbor VA HSR&D

Faculty Associate, Institute for Social Research

Dr. Langa studies the epidemiology and costs of chronic disease in older adults, with an emphasis on Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. He has published more than 125 peer-reviewed articles on these topics. He is the recipient of a Career Development Award and R01 grants from the National Institute on Aging, a Paul Beeson Physician Faculty Scholars in Aging Research Award, and a New Investigator Award from the Alzheimer's Association. In 2007, Dr. Langa was a Visiting Professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Institute of Public Health at the University of Cambridge where he established ongoing collaborations with an interdisciplinary research team performing cross-national comparisons of the epidemiology and outcomes of dementia in the United States, England, and other countries.

Helen Levy, Ph.D.

Research Affiliate, Population Studies Center

Research Associate Professor, Survey Research Center

Research Associate Professor, G. Ford School of Public Policy

Research Associate Professor, School of Public Health

Dr. Levy's research interests include the causes and consequences of lacking health insurance, evaluation of public health insurance programs, and the role of health literacy in explaining disparities in health outcomes. She is a Co-Investigator on the Health and Retirement Study, a long-running longitudinal study of health and economic dynamics at older ages. Dr. Levy is also a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research and served as a Senior Economist to the President's Council of Economic Advisers in 2010-11.

Andy Ryan, Ph.D.

Associate Professor, Health Management and Policy, School of Public Health

Dr. Ryan’s research focuses on pay-for-performance and public quality reporting, disparities, and health care policy analysis. He won the 2009 AcademyHealth Dissertation Award for his dissertation, “The Design of Value Based Purchasing in Medicare: Theory and Empirical Evidence” and the John M. Eisenberg Article-of-the-Year in Health Services Research for “Has Pay-for-Performance Decreased Access for Minority Patients?” Ryan is currently working to evaluate value-based purchasing programs implemented for hospitals, physicians, and Medicare Advantage plans.

Erica Solway, Ph.D.

Project Manager, Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation

Erica Solway joined IHPI in June of 2015 to oversee the planning and implementation of IHPI projects related to the evaluation of state health policy initiatives, including the Institute’s contract to evaluate the impact of the expansion of Medicaid in Michigan under the Healthy Michigan Plan. Ms. Solway most recently served as policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders, chair of the U.S. Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee Subcommittee on Primary Health and Aging, where she drafted and negotiated legislation and organized congressional hearings on such topics as access to primary care, the health care workforce, health disparities, oral and mental health, and services for seniors. She also wrote policy reports and designed and led investigations into the impact of Medicaid expansion.

David A. Spahlinger, M.D.

Senior Associate Dean for Clinical Affairs

Executive Director of the Faculty Group Practice

Clinical Associate Professor of Internal Medicine

Dr. Spahlinger was appointed the FGP’s first medical director in 1977. In 2004, the FGP Board of Directors applied for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Physician Group Practice (PGP) Demonstration Project. The PGP demo became the prototype for the Accountable Care Organization section of the Affordable Care Act. In 2007, the FGP assumed management control of ambulatory services from the University of Michigan Hospital and implemented a management structure and incentives that has improved physician satisfaction, patient satisfaction (from 86% to 92%), patient access, and margin ($54 million dollar improvement). Dr. Spahlinger is past chair of the Association of American Medical Colleges (AAMC) Advisory Committee for Healthcare and past chair of the AAMC Group on Faculty Practice. He continues to attend on the inpatient wards as a hospitalist.

Marianne Udow-Phillips, M.H.S.A.

Director, Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation

Marianne Udow-Phillips directs the Center for Healthcare Research & Transformation, a non-profit partnership of the University of Michigan (U-M) and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Michigan designed to promote evidence-based care delivery, improve population health, and expand access to care. From 2004 through 2007, Ms. Udow-Phillips was director of the Michigan Department of Human Services, appointed by Governor Jennifer M. Granholm. Prior to that, she was Senior Vice President of Health Care Products and Provider Services at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan.

Brent Williams, M.D., M.P.H.

Associate Professor, Internal Medicine

Dr. Williams’ research focuses on development and implementation of geriatric competencies in graduate medical education; and in identifying optimal forms of care management for patients with combined medical, functional, and behavioral problem

He currently serves as medical director of the UM Complex Care Management Program, and Liaison for Underserved Populations. Actively involved with community development, a major current focus is developing curricula in caring for underserved populations in the UM Medical School and Internal Medicine residency program. He serves as medical director of the Shelter Association of Washtenaw County, and maintains active general medicine and geriatrics clinical practices. His research relates to complex care management and medical education for underserved populations.

Cynthia H. Wilbanks

Vice President for Government Relations, University of Michigan

Cynthia Wilbanks directs the University of Michigan’s Government Relations programs at the local, state and federal levels. Her responsibilities include planning and developing the institution’s response to proposed legislation; developing and maintaining effective relationships with governmental agencies and officials; and analyzing and assessing legislative, administrative and regulatory activities as they pertain to University programs, activities and operations. She also supervises the activities of the State Outreach office. Ms. Wilbanks also serves the University as special advisor to the president on the development and growth of the University Research Corridor as well as non-research based external economic development activities.