Getting What We Pay For: Improving Health Care Value
June 21, 2007

The U.S. spends disproportionately more on health care than most other nations. What accounts for these high costs and are we getting the best value for our health care dollar? What steps can policymakers, providers, and purchasers take to improve health care quality while containing costs?

Speakers:

• Jim Mortimer, Quality Management Consultant, Founder of the Midwest Business Group on Health
• Dr. Lisa Simpson, Professor and Director of the Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center
  
  
  

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Biographies:

Lisa Simpson, MB, BCh, MPH, FAAP, is Professor and Director of the Child Policy Research Center at Cincinnati Children's Hospital Medical Center. The Center provides evidence based information to inform policy and program decisions at the local, state and national level with an emphasis on strategies to improve the quality of health care, the effectiveness of public programs, and child well being. Prior to this position, Dr. Simpson was the ACH Guild Endowed Chair in Child Health Policy and Professor of Pediatrics, Nursing and Public Health at the University of South Florida. She also serves as the National Director for Child Health Policy for the National Initiative for Children's Healthcare Quality and serves as an elected member on the board of directors of AcademyHealth and the Ambulatory Pediatric Association. She also serves on numerous national and state advisory groups. Dr. Simpson served as the Deputy Director at the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) at the US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS) from 1996-2002. She is the recipient of a Senior Executive Service Meritorious Presidential Rank Award, the DHHS Secretary's Distinguished Service Award, and the Excellence in Public Service Award from the American Academy of Pediatrics. Dr. Simpson, a board certified pediatrician, received her Master of Public Health degree from the University of Hawaii at Manoa School of Public Health and completed her medical degree at Trinity College in Dublin, Ireland. Dr. Simpson received postgraduate training and fellowships from Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government, the Institute for Policy Studies at the University of California, San Francisco, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

Jim Mortimer works with all parts of the health care delivery and financing systems to improve the quality and value of care for covered populations. His current clients include government agencies, labor unions, employer organizations and coalitions, and non-profit groups. Serving as an educator, facilitator and mediator he manages projects and assignments that require innovation, problem solving and follow-through to reach their goals. He has assisted AHRQ, The Lewin Group and the National Business Coalition on Health in a multi-site diabetes care quality improvement initiative. Prior to developing a consulting practice, Mortimer organized the Midwest Business Group on Health (MBGH) in 1980 with a group of 20 employers who came together from six midwestern states. Their purpose was to create a vehicle to learn new ways to manage health benefit plan costs. Its mission is to “Promote leadership, collaboration and knowledge among employers to continuously improve the quality and cost effectiveness of health systems and services.” Mortimer retired from MBGH in 2003. Prior to the business group, Mortimer worked fourteen years for the largest bank in Chicago. As second vice president, he was responsible for employee benefits, employee relations, medical services and employee counseling. Mortimer is a member of several health care organizations and boards including the Illinois Foundation for Quality Health Care, Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church (USA), YMCA of the USA National Employee Benefits Plan, and the National Quality Forum. He is a graduate of the University of Iowa with a degree in psychology. He has taken graduate courses in business and mathematics at Loyola University, Chicago.