Chamber holds Healthcare summit

Houston Intercontinental Chamber president Reggie Gray

By GILBERT HOFFMAN Northeast News

A Health Summit, co-sponsored by Houston Northwest Medical Center, the Houston Intercontinental Chamber, and 16 other corporate sponsors, met last Thursday morning for a two hour Panel Discussion on the current state of Healthcare.

The event was designed to bring leading business professionals together to discuss how to improve the health and well-being of our community.

These leaders included Jill Silman of Meador Staffing, Don McCormick of Patient Physician Cooperative, Dr. Andrew Watkins of the Watkins Group, Courtney Stubblefield of Towers Watson, Jay Donnella of SHAPE, David Dross of Mercer Company, Dr. Ed Supkis of UT-Health Science Center, David Lopez of the Harris County Hospital District, Dr. Guru Reddy president of the Harris County Medical Society, and Rep. Armando Walle of the Texas House of Representatives.

The keynote speaker followed the panel at lunch. David Gardani, of CIGNA Corporation entitled his talk “The Future of Healthcare” and encompassed many of the ideas and directions that had been investigated by the earlier panel.

He emphasized that healthcare must put the individual as a first priority, and must be sustainable. He said that the status quo is not sustainable, and that two-thirds of debt in the U.S. is due to health problems. In this situation Medicaid is overwhelmed, he does not believe the solutions lie in government legislation. The healthcare industry must solve the problems.

He suggested four keys to better healthcare:

1. Incentives

2. Sharing Actionable Information

3. Expanded Access to help

4. Assistance.

Incentives would ameliate smoking, alcohol and drug abuse, diet and moderation in consumption, and increased physical activity.

Sharing Actionable Information would involve developing a national date base, and identifying more experienced and effective physicians.

Expanded Access would give patients more choice, and an opportunity to individualize their treatment plan.

Assistance would give patients access to healthcare professionals on a continuing basis that have knowledge of their needs and can offer help.

Cordani said that implementing these maxims could reduce costs by 15 per cent, but admitted it would be hard, could not just be legislated, and required partnerships with people who want to drive change.

Cordani said that CIGNA is guided by principles of Choice, Transparency, and Quality.

Marc Biehl and Linda Mercier represented Houston Northwest Medical Center, the co-sponsors. In their welcoming statement, they emphasized that the hospital not only offered advanced care for the quality of life, but was a part of the community.