Healthcare reform will be the hot topic at the Medical Group Management Association’s Annual Conference 09, scheduled for Oct. 11-14, in Denver.
“This is an excellent opportunity for practice managers to learn about issues that will directly impact their practices,” said Rob Tennant, the Washington, D.C.-based MGMA’s senior policy advisor.
Ezekiel Emanuel, MD, bioethics chairman for the National Institutes of Health and senior advisor at the White House Office of Management and Budget on health policy, will open the conference with his keynote on shaping reform in the administration.
T.R. Reid, NPR correspondent and Health Policy Fellow of the Kaiser Family Foundation, will also give a keynote. He will speak about healthcare lessons to be learned from other countries.
“It’ll be pretty highly opinionated,” said Bill Jessee, MGMA president and CEO. “It ought to be provocative.”
There will be a breakout session with MGMA’s Washington office staff, designed to get down into the “nitty-gritty” of the proposed healthcare reform bills and cover breaking issues with legislation or regulation on the Medicare physician fee schedule, PQRI and payment reform.
The final draft of the “meaningful use” definition is not expected before the conference, but it has fueled a breakout session.
“It’s a complicated and intricate process,” said Tennant.
Tennant, joined by Larrie Dawkins, chief compliance officer at Wake Forest University Health Sciences in Winston Salem, N.C., will present a session about ICD-10 and HIPAA standards. This will include how the new standards will differ from those now in place, plans for conversion, and strategies to work with vendors and health plans.
Patrick Smith, senior vice president of the MGMA’s government affairs division and co-speaker Anders Gilberg, vice president of public and private economic affairs for the MGMA, will present “Deciphering Healthcare Reform: What it Means for Your Practice.”
“Even though the economy is tough, this is where people pick up ideas,” said Jessee.