UPCOMING MEETING
Wednesday, February 12, 2019
Opening Discussion Topic:
Meet Ed Heidig, HHS Regional Director
Appointed by the President, and working directly with HHS Secretary Alex Azar, Ed Heidig is the Regional Director for U.S. Department of Health & Human Services Region 9, serving the states of Arizona, California, Hawaii, Nevada, and the U.S. Affiliated Pacific Islands. Under his auspices fall the offices for the CDC, FDA, HRSA, IHS, SAMHSA, and over a dozen other national health programs that are administered in Region 9.
During Ed’s opening presentation, he’ll:
- Describe the role of the HHS Regional Director (and how it differs from that of CMS Regional Administrator)
- Update us on the Secretary Azar’s priorities, and how they impact Region 9
- Share HHS’s major accomplishments over the past two years, nationally – and particularly in Region 9.
Then he’ll open the floor for questions and discussion, which might include:
- How do the “regional politics” of Region 9’s various states impact the role of the presidentially-appointed Regional Director?
- What had been the impact of the Federal Government Shutdown on HHS and all its Agencies? How long will it take to recover from the Shutdown?
- Whatever else you come up with!
Go-Round Discussion of Member Issues: During this time, each Member is given an opportunity to share an “issue” with the Group in order to receive knowledgeable and confidential feedback on how best to tackle that issue. Issues often center around: management/planning concerns, how to best respond to new industry trends, fleshing out a new strategy, what were the best practices used (or hazards) from fellow Members who have dealt with a similar issue. In order to get the most value from each session, we encourage our Members to bring an issue for discussion to each meeting.
Ed Heidig, Regional Director for U.S. Department of Health & Human Services – Region 9
Prior to his appointment to HHS Regional Director, Ed served as Chief Deputy Director and later Interim Director for the State of California Department of Managed Health Care – the country’s only stand-alone agency regulating health insurance. There he played a key role in adopting timely-access regulations which assured the right care at the right time, and proactively reached settlements with HMOs to expand autism coverage. Earlier, in addition to other executive roles in California’s governance, he served as General Counsel for the Diocese of Sacramento, and began his career in Washington, DC, as Legislative Assistant to Senator Pete Wilson.
Upcoming Session Dates
March 13 April 10 May 8 June 12 July 10 Aug. 14 Sept. 11 Nov. 13 Dec. 11
Past Round Tables
Understanding Single Payer Health Systems Around the World
Walter Kopp, President and CEO of Medical Management Services
The 'Disrupters' Are Here: Are You Embracing or Ignoring Them? How?
Harry Soza, President and CEO of CAREMINDr
The Making of Kaiser Permanente's 5-Star MA Plan
Agnes Strandberg, Sr. VP of Medicare for Kaiser Permanente
Lessons from Marketing in Healthcare
Eric Neuner, CEO of Health Coach Institute
Weaving a Stronger Social Safety Net for Infants to Seniors
Al Gilbert, CEO of Felton Institute
Beyond the EHR: Using Technology for Patient Engagement & Data Management
Joshua Newman, MD, Chief Medical Officer for Salesforce
New Approaches for Controlling Healthcare's "Unsustainable" Spending Growth
ABL Member Jack Asher, MD, VP and Chief Medical Officer for Anthem Blue Cross and Jamie Robinson, PhD, is Professor of Health
Economics at UC Berkeley
FIELD TRIP: Laguna Honda Hospital & Rehabilitation Center
Giving a Lyft to Healthcare – and Other Helpful New Technologies
Dan Trigub, Regional VP at Lyft-Business
Getting into the Weeds: The Implications of Legalized Marijuana
Paul Armentano, Deputy Director, of NORML, the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
Introducing the Greater Bay Area's Super Provider Network
Joel Criste, CEO, Canopy Health
Meeting Seniors' Social and Economic Needs to Better Health
Maya Altman, CEO, Health Plan of San Mateo and Janet Van Deusen, Manager of the Health Insurance Counseling and Assistance (HICAP) program in Alameda County, at Legal Assistance for Seniors
Benefits of ABL
Members are able to stay abreast of industry trends that affect their business and keep ahead of the curve in their rapidly changing industry. Connections made within the Round Tables – and throughout the ABL Organization – further accelerate business growth, Members experience full value and a solid return on their investment of time and fees when attending Round Tables on a regular basis. .
"Both speakers and Members provide valuable insights and trigger deep and broad discussions and follow-up explorations."
"I love these meetings. Being able to see and hear what is on others minds is invaluable."
"The primary benefit is the education, timely information, and varied perspectives that are shared by high-level healthcare industry leaders. "
"One of the most valuable aspects of ABL is the broad perspective of what’s happening in the industry."
"I rarely miss ABL; this is where I get my Brain Food. It helps to keep my day-to-day decisions in a larger perspective."
"ABL gives me an opportunity to get input from a cross section of healthcare leaders."
"I find the networking and attentive perspectives from people with different stakes in the system to be very valuable."