Speakers
Abby L. Block was named Director of the Center for Beneficiary Choice at CMS in October of 2005. Before that she was a Senior Advisor to the CMS Administrator. In that capacity she played a leading role in implementing the Title I and Title II provisions of the Medicare Modernization Act. She worked extensively with health plans and beneficiary advocacy groups to ensure an effective transition to the new Medicare Advantage and prescription drug programs in 2006. Before transferring to CMS, Abby L. Block was a Deputy Associate Director at the U. S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) where she was considered the expert on Federal health and life insurance programs, as well as Federal retirement systems, with over 25 years of experience in with employee and retiree benefits. She has served as a technical expert to the Administration, Congress, employee organizations and associations, the insurance industry, and others on related issues. Prior to assuming the Associate Director position, Ms. Block was responsible for both policy development and contract administration for the Federal Employees Health Benefits (FEHB) Program and the Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance (FEGLI) program. She also played a key role in the development and implementation of the Federal Long-Term Care Insurance Program and the Flexible Spending Account Program for Federal employees. Ms. Block came to OPM as a Presidential Management Intern in 1979. She has an MA, an MSW, and an MBA from Columbia University.
Brian Cohen is a Senior Investigator and Policy Advisor for the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, chaired by Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-CA). Mr. Cohen has conducted numerous investigations and led hearings into drug pricing and program compliance under Medicare Part D. In July 2007, the Committee held held hearings on the Committee's most recent investigation, a detailed analysis of Part D drug pricing for dual eligibles and a comparison of drug prices under Medicare Part D and Medicaid.
Born in Aberdeen, South Dakota, Tom Daschle graduated from South Dakota State University in 1969. Upon graduation, he entered the United States Air Force where he served as an intelligence officer in the Strategic Air Command until mid-1972. After serving on the staff of Senator James Abourezk, Daschle was elected to the US House of Representatives in 1978, serving eight years. He was one of the first members of Congress to serve in a Democratic Leadership position in his first term of office as a regional whip. In 1986, he was elected to the US Senate and two years later, became the first co-chairman of the Senate Democratic Policy Committee and the first South Dakotan to be elected to a leadership position in the US Congress. In 1994, Senator Daschle was elected by his colleagues as their Democratic leader. Only Lyndon Johnson served fewer years in the Senate before being elected to the position. Senator Daschle is one of the longest serving Senate Democratic leaders in history and the only one to serve twice as both Majority and Minority Leader. During his tenure as Leader, Senator Daschle co-managed only the second impeachment trial of a US President, led the Senate in response to the attacks of September 11th, 2001 and the anthrax attack on his office one month later.
Today, Senator Daschle is an advisor to the law firm of Alston and Bird where he provides strategic advice on public policy issues such as climate change, energy, health care, trade, financial services and telecommunications. He is also a distinguished fellow at the Center for American Progress, a visiting professor at Georgetown University and a public speaker. In 2007, he joined with former Majority Leaders George Mitchell, Bob Dole and Howard Baker to create the Bipartisan Policy Center, an organization dedicated to finding common ground on some of the pressing public policy challenges of our time. He is also co-chair of the ONE Vote ’08 Campaign, along with former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, to address health and poverty in the developing world in a more aggressive and successful way.
Senator Daschle serves on the advisory boards of Intermedia Partners and BP Energy. He also serves on the boards of CB Richard Ellis, Mascoma Corporation, Prime BioSolutions, the Freedom Forum, the Mayo Clinic, the Center for American Progress, the LBJ Foundation and the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs. He is a member of the Council of Foreign Relations. He has published articles in numerous newspapers and periodicals and is the author of Like No Other Time and Critical: What We Can Do About the Healthcare Crisis. He holds a number of honorary doctorate degrees.
Nancy-Ann DeParle is a partner at CCMP Capital, a private equity firm formed in August 2006 by the buyout professionals of JPMorgan Partners, LLC. At CCMP, she focuses on health care investments, and serves on the boards of CareMore Health Plan, Legacy Hospital Partners, and Noble Environmental Power, a wind energy production company. In addition, she is a director of Boston Scientific, Cerner, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. From 2002-2008, she served as a member of the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission (MedPAC), which advises Congress on Medicare payment policy. From 1997-2000, DeParle served in the Clinton Administration as Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration (HCFA, now called the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services or CMS). A key health policy advisor to President Clinton, she ran Medicare, Medicaid, and S-CHIP, which provide health insurance for 74 million Americans at an annual cost of more than $600 billion. Before joining HHS, she served as Associate Director for Health & Personnel at the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB).
Earlier in her career, she served in the Cabinet of Tennessee Governor Ned McWherter as Commissioner of Human Services. She has also worked as a lawyer in private practice and is an Adjunct Professor of Health Care Systems at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. In 1994, Time selected her one of “America’s 50 Most Promising Leaders Age 40 and Under.” DeParle received a B.A. from the University of Tennessee, where she was Student Body President, and a J.D. from Harvard Law School. She also received a B.A. and M.A. from Balliol College of Oxford University, where she was a Rhodes Scholar.
Dr. Erickson is the Chief Medical Officer for AmeriChoice – Connecticut. His present role is to develop a State wide Medicaid Program as well as a pilot program for the uninsured. Prior to AmeriChoice he served as a national medical director for Evercare/Ovations where he developed new Evercare sites and helped to develop and monitor clinical quality measures.
Other positions held by Dr. Erickson include: Regional Vice President of Medical Affairs for New England with Genesis Eldercare, one of the nation’s largest nursing home chains, Medical Director of the McLean Home and Health Center, Chief of Medicine at New Britain Memorial Hospital, and Associate Chief of Ambulatory and Community Medicine and Medical Director at the Mount Sinai Hospital/University of Connecticut Health Center Outpatient Services. He is a Clinical Associate Professor of Internal Medicine, Community Medicine and Health Care, University of Connecticut School of Medicine.
Dr. Erickson completed his undergraduate study at Dartmouth College and received his medical degree from the University Of Vermont College Of Medicine. He was an internal medicine resident at Harlem Hospital and the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center and served in the National Health Service Corps. Board Certified in internal medicine with added qualifications in geriatric medicine.
Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is the founder of the Center for Health Transformation, a collaboration of public and private sector leaders dedicated to building a 21st Century Intelligent Health System that saves lives and saves money for all Americans. Since leaving Congress in 1999, he has devoted much of his time to transforming health and healthcare into a system that delivers more choices of greater quality at lower cost. He has served as a member of the National Advisory Board for the Agency for Healthcare Quality and Research; the Board of Regents at the National Library of Medicine; and the board of directors for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. He co-chairs the Alzheimer’s Study Group and the National Commission for Quality Long-Term Care with former Senator Bob Kerrey.
Speaker Gingrich is widely recognized as a transformational leader, unparalleled in his ability to create and lead successful large-scale change, including building the first Republican majority in the U.S. House of Representatives in forty years. Under his leadership, Congress passed transformational legislation including welfare reform, the first balanced budget in a generation, funding to strengthen our national defense, and the first tax cuts in sixteen years.
He is an analyst for FOX News and a prolific author, including the New York Times bestsellers Real Change, Days of Infamy, and Winning the Future, as well as Rediscovering God in America, Saving Lives & Saving Money, and the Art of Transformation.
Joyce Hagen is a health care executive with a proven history of successful leadership in commercial and government contracting. Her areas of expertise are: health plan management, financials turnaround, network development and management, media relations, operations, medical management and strategic planning.
As Regional President for AmeriHealth Mercy Health Plan, Joyce has responsibility for Medicaid health plan and disease and case management activities in Indiana and Kentucky. These plans include over 300,000 members, and exceed $1 billion in revenue. As Regional President for AmeriHealth Mercy Health Plan, Joyce has responsibility for Medicaid health plan and disease and case management activities in Indiana and Kentucky. These plans include over 300,000 members, and exceed $1 billion in revenue.
Dr. Dora Hughes advises Senator Barack Obama on a broad range of health issues and helps to develop his national policy and legislative agenda. She previously served as Deputy Director for Health for Senator Edward M. Kennedy on the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions in the United States Senate. Prior to working on Capitol Hill, Dr. Hughes served as Senior Program Officer at The Commonwealth Fund, a national health foundation in New York City. She completed medical school at Vanderbilt University, residency at Brigham & Women’s Hospital and public health school at Harvard University. Dr. Hughes is board-certified in internal medicine.
Mark S. Joffe is an attorney in private practice in Washington D.C. Mr. Joffe specializes in legal and business issues affecting managed care organizations with a particular focus on Medicare and Medicaid managed care. Mr. Joffe was previously the Associate Counsel, Group Health Association of America (currently AHIP), the managed care and health insurance trade association. Prior to that position, Mr. Joffe was a Senior Attorney with the Office of the General Counsel, Department of Health and Human Services. Mr. Joffe is currently AHIP’s Outside Counsel for public programs. Mr. Joffe has a Masters of Arts degree in Health Services Administration from George Washington University.
Bruce Johnson is the Technical Director in CMS’s Division of Benefits, Eligibility and Managed Care, in the Center for Medicaid and State Operations. As such he has lead responsibility for Medicaid managed care policies including rate setting issues. He chaired CMS’ Upper Payment Limit Workgroup involving Federal and State Medicaid staff, actuaries, and representatives of Medicaid managed care organizations, proposing alternatives to the UPL for risk contracts, which eventually resulted in the new payment provisions on actuarial soundness in managed care regulations. Prior to this he served both as Project Officer and Team Leader for Medicaid Health Care Reform Demonstrations in Oregon, Minnesota, and Maryland. He has worked in CMS and its predecessor agencies since 1971 and in Medicaid Managed Care for more than 23 years.
Jay Khosla serves as Health Policy Advisor for John McCain 2008. Previously, Jay Khosla served as Health Counsel for the US Senate Budget Committee (R) focusing on health care issues including Medicare, the uninsured, private market insurance reform and health information technology. Mr. Khosla also served as Health Policy Counsel for the former US Senate Majority Leader, William H. Frist, MD. He was responsible for managing health insurance, liability reform and health information technology issues for the Majority Leader. Mr. Khosla earned his Bachelor of Science, magna cum laude, in Biology with a minor in General Business from Virginia Commonwealth University and his Juris Doctor from the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond. He also earned his Master of Health Administration, summa cum laude, from the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Jeanne M. Lambrew joined the LBJ School faculty in the summer of 2007 as associate professor of public affairs. She specializes in health care and policy and conducts research on the uninsured, Medicaid, Medicare, and long-term care. Dr. Lambrew is also a senior fellow at the Center for American Progress. Previously, Dr. Lambrew was an associate professor at the Department of Health Policy at The George Washington University School of Public Health and Health Services. From 1997 to 2001, Dr. Lambrew worked on health policy at the White House as the program associate director for health at the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) and as the senior health analyst at the National Economic Council. In these roles, she helped coordinate health policy development, evaluated legislative proposals, and conducted and managed analyses and cost estimates with OMB, the Department of Health and Human Services, the Treasury Department, the Labor Department and other relevant agencies.
She was the White House lead on drafting and implementing the Children's Health Insurance Program and helped develop the president's Medicare reform plan, initiative on long-term care, and other health care proposals. She also worked at the Department of Health and Human Services during the 1993-1994 health reform efforts, and coordinated analyses of budget proposals in 1995. Prior to serving at the White House, Dr. Lambrew was an assistant professor of public policy at Georgetown University (1996).
Dr. Lambrew received her master’s degree and Ph.D. from the Department of Health Policy, School of Public Health at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and bachelor's degree from Amherst College.
Thomas P Miller is a resident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, where he focuses on health policy, with particular emphasis on such issues as information transparency, health insurance regulation, and consumer-driven health care. He is also a member of the National Advisory Council for the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. For the last two years, he has volunteered as an unpaid, outside health policy adviser and frequent surrogate speaker for presidential candidate John McCain. Before joining AEI, Miller served for three years as senior health economist for the Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, where he organized a series of hearings focusing on promising reforms in private health care markets and drafted several social security reform bills. He also has been director of health policy studies at the Cato Institute and director of economic policy studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute. Tom Miller’s writing has appeared in such publications as Health Affairs, WallStreet Journal, New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Reader's Digest, National Review, The American, Journal of Law and Contemporary Problems, Regulation, and Cato Journal. He has testified before various congressional committees on issues including Medicare prescription drug benefits, medical savings accounts, tax credits, genetic information, social security, federal reinsurance of catastrophic risks, and terrorism insurance.
Before coming to Washington, he had a real life, as a trial attorney, a journalist, and a radio broadcaster (including several seasons as play-by-play voice of the Davidson College Wildcats basketball team). Miller holds a bachelor's degree in political science from New York University and a law degree from Duke University.
David R. Nerenz, Ph., is Director of the Center for Health Services Research at Henry Ford Health System in Detroit. Most of Dr. Nerenz's current work is focused on the issue of racial and ethnic disparities in quality of care, and on the ways in which health care organizations can reduce or eliminate disparities. He is also Director of Outcomes Research for the Neuroscience Institute at Henry Ford. In this role, he is responsible for fostering clinical research in several specific areas (e.g., spine surgery, stroke, traumatic brain injury), and supporting translational research of novel approaches to treatment developed by HFHS bench researchers. He is also the site Principal Investigator for a national NCI-funded study of patterns and outcomes of care for patients with lung or colorectal cancer. Dr. Nerenz received his Ph.D. in Social Psychology from the University of Wisconsin – Madison in 1979.
Stuart Rothenberg has his finger on Washington’s political pulse. As the editor and publisher of The Rothenberg Political Report, a biweekly newsletter that reports on and analyzes governmental developments that affect the country today, Rothenberg is the go-to authority on the U.S. House, Senate, gubernatorial, and presidential elections. His penchant for presenting droll and unbiased observations, paired with his exceptional knowledge of American politics, captivates audiences with insightful, often humorous discussions about election results, the issues facing decision makers on Capitol Hill, and the nature politics itself. Rothenberg is exclusively represented by Leading Authorities.
In addition to commentary that has been featured in newspapers throughout the country, Rothenberg also writes a column in Capitol Hill’s Roll Call twice a week. He also often contributes op-ed pieces to the Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, The New York Times, and The Orlando Sentinel. His political expertise has made him a solid anchor on the network television news circuit. He has appeared on NBC’s Meet the Press and Today, ABC’s This Week and Nightline, and The McLaughlin Group. Rothenberg served as a political analyst for CBS News in 2006. Before that, he served as a CNN political analyst for more than ten years, which included extensive on-air election night analysis. He has also served as a political analyst for the Voice of America. Rothenberg holds a B.A. from Colby College in Waterville, Maine and a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut. He has taught political science at Bucknell University in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.
Guenther H. Ruch heads up the Division of Regulation and Enforcement at the Office of the Commissioner of Insurance for the State of Wisconsin and is responsible for the enforcement of the Wisconsin insurance laws. Mr. Ruch has been involved in the regulation of insurance for more than 30 years. He has been active in the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, a trade association consisting of the country’s chief insurance regulatory officials for over 12 years, heading up the Senior Issues Task Force and actively participating in its insurance market conduct and financial solvency activities. Prior to his current position, Mr. Ruch served as Senior Vice President at WPS Health Insurance in Madison where he headed up the Actuarial, Underwriting and Marketing Divisions. In 2005 and 2006, Mr. Ruch successfully introduced WPS’s Medicare Prescription Drug Plans resulting in top market share for the State.
Mr. Ruch also served as the director of the OCI’s Market Regulation Bureau within the Division of Regulation and Enforcement. The Bureau is responsible for handling consumer complaints, processing insurance policy forms, investigating insurance companies and agents for insurance law violations, and participating in the development of administrative rules. He also served as the Assistant Director of OCI’s Financial Analysis and Examinations Bureau within the Division of Regulation and Enforcement. Mr. Ruch also was an accounting manager with a major insurance company based in Madison. Mr. Ruch has written a number of insurance-related articles including Medicare Supplement Insurance Standardization – Myth or Miracle and The Use of CPA Working Papers in the Financial Examination Process. He has a BBA from the University of Wisconsin – Whitewater and was the 1998 recipient of the NAIC’s Robert Dineen Award for outstanding service and contribution to state regulation of insurance.
Paul Sherman, MD, is medical director for Strategy Deployment for Group Health Cooperative—one of the nation’s largest consumer-governed health care systems. He began clinical practice at Group Health in 1992 and has subsequently held several clinical management positions. Dr. Sherman, a board-certified pediatrician, oversees 350 physicians and a $250 million budget. He has been a member of the American Academy of Pediatrics since 1989, and is also a member of the North Pacific Pediatric Society and the American College of Physician Executives. Dr. Sherman received his MD from Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, trained in pediatrics at Seattle Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center, and obtained his Master of Health Administration from the University of Washington in Seattle.
Kenneth Thorpe, Ph.D., Robert W. Woodruff Professor and Chair of the Department of Health Policy & Management, in the Rollins School of Public Health of Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia. He also co-directs the Emory Center on Health Outcomes and Quality. He was the Vanselow Professor of Health Policy and Director, Institute for Health Services Research at Tulane University. He was previously Professor of Health Policy and Administration at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; an Associate Professor and Director of the Program on Health Care Financing and Insurance at the Harvard University School of Public Health and Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Public Health at Columbia University. Dr. Thorpe has also held Visiting Faculty positions at Pepperdine University and Duke University. Dr. Thorpe was Deputy Assistant Secretary for Health Policy in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services from 1993 to 1995. In this capacity, he coordinated all financial estimates and program impacts of President Clinton’s health care reform proposals for the White House. He also directed the administration’s estimation efforts in dealing with Congressional health care reform proposals during the 103rd and 104th sessions of Congress.
As an academic, he has testified before several committees in the U.S. Senate and House on health care reform and insurance issues. Dr. Thorpe has authored and co-authored over 85 articles, book chapters and books and is a frequent national presenter on issues of health care financing, insurance and health care reform at health care conferences, television and the media. He has worked with several groups (including the American College of Physicians, American Hospital Association, National Coalition on Health Care, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, Service Employees International Union, and the United Hospital Fund) and policymakers (including Senators Wellstone, Corzine, Bingaman, Snowe, Clinton, Obama and Kennedy) to develop and evaluate alternative approaches for providing health insurance to the uninsured. He serves as a reviewer on several health care journals.
In his role with Courage Center, John Tschida is responsible for leading public policy and advocacy initiatives on behalf of Courage Center and in partnership with the local disability community. Tschida acquired a spinal cord injury over a decade ago. Since that time, he has worked to improve health care delivery systems for people with disabilities. Prior to joining Courage Center, Tschida served as a research fellow at the National Rehabilitation Hospital Center for Health and Disability Research in Washington, D.C. Earlier in his career, he served as assistant director of the Minnesota House of Representatives Public Information Office.
A graduate of Macalester College in Minnesota, Tschida holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from Georgetown University. A well-known author, Tschida has written numerous articles on disability, health care and public policy for local and national newspapers and magazines. In addition to Tschida’s duties at Courage Center, he serves on the Board of Governors for AXIS Health Care, a consumer-driven managed care program for people with disabilities. He also works closely with the Minnesota Consortium for Citizens with Disabilities, a statewide coalition of more than 100 disability service and advocacy organizations. He serves on numerous government advisory panels and speaks regularly to various audiences on issues of interest to the disability community. Tschida resides in Eagan with his wife, Rachel, and their three children.
Ms. Tunis has over 30 years experience in health care, including over 20 years with HMOs contracting with the Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) as a part of the BadgerCare+/Medicaid SSI HMO Initiative. Ms. Tunis is currently Senior Vice President, Government Relations/Compliance at Managed Health Services, a Wisconsin Medicaid-only HMO serving over 120,000 Medicaid, SCHIP and SSI members. Her HMO experience includes oversight responsibility in the areas of compliance, medical management, quality improvement, member services, provider contracting, and government relations. She currently serves on the Statewide Advisory Committee on Eliminating Racial & Ethnic Disparities in Birth Outcomes, the Healthiest Wisconsin 2020 Strategic Leadership Team, the DHS Family Planning Council, and the board of directors for St. Coletta Day School. She has served as a member of Governor Thompson’s Blue Ribbon Commission on Mental Health Service Delivery Redesign, as a member of the Packard Forum on Assuring Quality Care for Mothers and Children in Medicaid Risk-Based Managed Care for the National Academy for State Health Policy, and as a member of the Stakeholders Workgroup on Medicaid Managed Care for Vulnerable Populations for the Center for Health Care Strategies. Prior to her work in managed care, Ms. Tunis spent ten years with an Indiana acute care hospital in the areas of nursing administration, infection control, and quality assurance.
Kerry N. Weems was appointed Acting Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in September 2007. Mr. Weems has served in a variety of senior leadership positions at the US Department of Health and Human Services, including Chief Financial Officer, where he led the successful redesign and implementation of the Department’s financial management system. During his tenure as Secretary Leavitt’s Deputy Chief of Staff, Mr. Weems was responsible for advancing health information technology as one of the foundations of a modern, value-based health-care delivery system. He is currently Vice Chair of the American Health Information Community, a federal advisory body chartered in 2005 to accelerate the development and adoption of health information technology. Mr. Weems joined DHHS in 1983 as a junior budget analyst. He has been recognized for his leadership at the Department under both Republican and Democratic Administrations, and received the Presidential Rank Award from both President Bush and President Clinton. Mr. Weems, who hails from New Mexico, is married and has three children.
Gail Wilensky is an economist, and a Senior Fellow at Project HOPE (an international health education foundation). Wilensky is a Commissioner on the WHO’s Commission on the Social Determinants of Health, co-chaired the recently completed Department of Defense task force on the Future of Military Health Care, is Vice Chair of the Maryland Health Care Commission and serves as a trustee of the Combined Benefits Fund of the United Mineworkers of America and the National Opinion Research Center. From 1990 to 1992, she was Administrator of the Health Care Financing Administration. She also served as Deputy Assistant to President (GHW) Bush for Policy Development, advising him on health and welfare issues from 1992 to 1993. From 1997 to 2001, she chaired the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, and from 1995 to 1997, she chaired the Physician Payment Review Commission. From 2001 to 2003, she co-chaired the President’s Task Force to Improve Health Care Delivery for Our Nation’s Veterans. In 2007, she served as a Commissioner on the President’s Commission on Care for America’s Returning Wounded Warriors. Dr. Wilensky testifies frequently before Congressional committees and speaks before professional, business and consumer groups. She earned her Ph.D. in economics at the University of Michigan.
