The Institute for Health and Productivity Management’s Eighth Annual International Conference will continue to offer the newest global perspectives on employee health as human capital. As the international leader in advancing the health and productivity movement, IHPM will draw on its expanding activities and connections around the world to provide attendees with the freshest ideas and practices in the burgeoning field of health and productivity management.
The conference is subtitled “The New Demographic Imperative: Keeping Healthy Workers,” and IHPM President Sean Sullivan will open the General Session on Wednesday, October 15th at 1 PM with an “executive summary” of the stark demographic facts facing employers over the next decade or more – facts that make it imperative to improve the health of the work force and prevent disabilities in order to maintain the productivity of the American economy.
The General Session then swings into action with a notable lineup of national and international leaders addressing the key trends that will shape health care globally, the critical future role of “digital” health, the impact of an aging work force on health and productivity, a promising new initiative to establish the “medical home,” the annual Corporate Health and Productivity Management and Value-Based Health Benefits Award-winners, and the pre-election outlook for health care reform. The General Session resumes on Friday, October 17th, at 8 AM, after a day of Track Sessions on Thursday, the 16th.
Bill Crounse, MD, Senior Director for Worldwide Health at Microsoft, will present a provocative and challenging look at the 5 Global Trends that will change healthcare around the world. Dr. Crounse got enthusiastic reviews for this presentation when he gave it this spring at IHPM’s Fourth Annual Puget Sound Forum in Seattle, and we’re very pleased to bring him to Scottsdale for our big annual event.
Louis Burns, a Vice President at Intel and General Manager of its Digital Health Group, will bring the latest message about ways in which health care technology will improve the future for patients, providers of care, and employers who pay for it. Intel is an acknowledged leader in helping to make “digital health” a reality in the marketplace, and Burns is the leader of that effort.
Grace-Marie Turner, President of the Galen Institute and a leading national health policy observer and analyst who frequently appears in the media and on Capitol Hill, will provide a fresh look at the prospects for healthcare "reform" on the eve of the election. The Galen Institute's weekly newsletter "Health Policy Matters" is widely read and quoted in places like the Wall Street Journal. (Grace-Marie also will be giving the readers of Health & Productivity Management a sharp look at Romney Care in MA in our summer issue).
Bill Bunn, MD, Global Health and Productivity Leader for Navistar International Corporation and Editor-in-Chief of IHPM's peer-reviewed Journal of Health & Productivity will present just published new research with Harris Allen, PhD, Lecturer at Yale Medical School, on the impact of an aging work force on employee health and productivity. This session nicely follows up the opening conference remarks on the theme of The New Demographic Imperative, as employers will have to pay more attention to the functional health of their shrinking skilled work force to maintain their productivity.
Alberto Colombi, MD, Corporate Medical Director of PPG Industries will present significant new evidence on the relative productivity and financial impact of cardiovascular disease, alcohol use, and stress levels in the work force at PPG Industries. Dr. Colombi is an international leader in the health and productivity field, and will reappear on the Measurement Track the second day of the conference.
Toronto Police Service Deputy Chief Keith Forde and Denise Balch, President of Connex Health and IHPM's Canadian "partner" will share remarkable results from an ongoing health improvement and culture change initiative at the Toronto Police Service - the 5th largest in North America. The Toronto initiative is intended to serve as a model for similar initiatives in selected U.S. cities, dealing with the uniquely challenging culture of a para-military organization
The most tangible and promising community-wide effort to implement the idea of the 24/7 "Medical Home" for families with their Primary Care Physician (PCP) is taking shape in Utah, featuring individual care plans that include prevention and self-management of chronic disease to optimize total health and well-being. Attendees will learn about this broad-based, multi-stakeholder effort firsthand from its leaders in both the employer and physician communities.
Award presentations will be made for IHPM's 9th Annual Corporate Health and Productivity Management Awards, including the second season of International Award winners, as well as the 2nd Annual Value-Based Health Benefits Awards with new categories of winners since last year. Award-winning employers will share the highlights of their programs with attendees, either at the General Session, the Value-Based Health Benefits Academy or Track Session, or the Dinner Panel discussion.
David Goldblum, MD, a Professor of Psychiatry at the University of Toronto, will travel to Scottsdale for a reprise of his remarkable "slideless" talk on depression -- a subject central to the overall health and performance of the modern knowledge-based workplace – and the leading cause of presenteeism in the work place according to the IHPM/Ingenix survey of 34 large corporate employers with 1.2 million employees. Several attendees at the recent Connex/IHPM Sixth Annual Canadian Forum called it “the best talk they had ever heard by a physician”.
Finally, there will be a special guest speaker TBA, courtesy of this year’s new Platinum-Plus sponsor, CIGNA; look for the announcement in a forthcoming eNews.
TRACK SESSIONS –THURSDAY, Oct. 16th
There will be six track sessions at the Conference, offering attendees their usual variety of choices – Health and Productivity Measurement, Disease Management, Value-Based Health & Benefits, Organizational Health and Culture, Behavioral Health, and International Trends in Health and Productivity Management.
Health and Productivity Measurement
IHPM was founded on the idea that the connection between health and productivity could be measured, and a business case thereby could be built for “investing” in the health of employees as a business asset – not just a labor cost. The business mantra “you can’t manage what you can’t measure” has driven the Institute’s work ever since, and the newest and best in measurement is a special feature of every IHPM conference – the gathering place for serious HPMers.
Harris Allen, PhD, who has become IHPM’s “house expert” on self-report survey design and data analysis through his considerable work on the Institute’s field research projects, will start the session with an overview and update of the leading measurement instruments in the health and productivity field.
Then, Denny Holland, PhD, an occupational health psychologist, will give a presentation on measuring the effect of illness on productivity at Union Pacific Railroad, and David Sensibaugh will present a case study of measurement at Eastman Chemical – both using different measurement tools. A panel discussion led by Harris Allen will discuss the three leading instruments – the WLQ, the HPQ, and the WPAI – with users from Mayo Health Solutions, Alere (formerly Matria), and HealthMedia. Finally, Dr. Alberto Colombi from PPG Industries will present comparative data on health and productivity from the U.S. and Europe, using the WLQ.
Organizational Health and Culture
This perennial favorite will, again, be chaired by Joseph Leutzinger, PhD, President of IHPM’s Academy of Health and Productivity Management. Leadoff speaker Judd Allen, PhD, will talk about how to get senior management support for building a culture of health in the organization – building on strong evidence linking health improvement and organizational success, which has sparked interest among executives.
Allen will be followed by a string of employer stories – from Mutual of Omaha (productivity study of outcomes from treadmill work stations), Maine Health (integrating behavioral health services in a health improvement program), Novartis, the City of Ames, Iowa, and the State of Washington, which is seeking to build an entire culture of health for more than 100,000 state employees.
Value-Based Health & Benefits
IHPM’s Initiative for Value-Based Health & Benefits (IVHB) is in its third year of helping to build an employer-led movement to change the basis of employee health benefit design from consideration of cost alone to assessment of value. This track has been the most heavily attended of any at recent conference.
It will be chaired by IVHB’s Steve Priddy and Jack Bastable, and will feature (1) a panel discussion of value-based benefits among leading health plans, including Aetna, CIGNA, and Humana, moderated by Randy Abbott, Practice Leader at Watson Wyatt Worldwide; (2) a presentation of two leading public employer programs, by Scott Pritchard from the State of Washington, and Doug Farmer from the State of Kansas; (3) a panel discussion among leading health management companies, including Health Media, HMC Corporation, and Alere (Matria), moderated by Jack Bastable.
One reason for this track’s popularity is its evening dinner panel, attended by many who have chosen other tracks during the day. Moderated by Steve Priddy on stage and Jack Bastable with the roving mike in the audience, this time it will feature a lively discussion among the winners of the 2nd Annual IVB Awards. These evening panel discussions have so engaged past attendees that they have been heard continuing the conversation in the bar after the session concluded at 9:30 PM!
Disease Management
This track received its highest marks ever in Orlando last spring, and features a strong lineup again with sessions on metabolic syndrome (including results from a “consensus conference” on the subject hosted by IHPM’s Workplace Center for Metabolic Health), bipolar disorder, treatment of musculoskeletal pain with industrial massage at Intel, and integrated treatment of cancer using complementary and alternative as well as traditional approaches. (More details on this track in a forthcoming eNews).
Behavioral Health
At its spring conference, IHPM announced establishment of a new Workplace Center for Behavioral Health, with founding sponsorship by HealthMedia. The Center will serve as the focal point for field research on the relationships among behavioral health conditions such as depression, anxiety, insomnia, stress, and eating disorders. (More details on this track in a forthcoming eNews).
International
The International track became popular at last fall’s annual conference, and promises to be so again, Chaired by Wolf Kirsten, IHPM’s European partner and President of International Health Consulting in Berlin, the track again will feature presentations from the many parts of the world where IHPM has carried the flag of Health and Productivity Management. (More details on this track in a forthcoming eNews).
Pre-Conference Academy on Value-Based Health & Benefits
Last fall IHPM filled the room to overflowing by devoting its pre-conference Academy to the subject of value-based health and benefits, and will do so again this year. Chaired by Academy President Joseph Leutzinger, PhD, the event will be held on Wednesday morning, October 15th, and will feature Steve Priddy from IHPM’s Initiative for Value-Based Health & Benefits, David Groves, PhD, Director of Wellness at MGM MIRAGE, Ed Mauceri, MD, Executive Director of Corporate Employee Health at Novartis, Gina Payne, Director of Human Resources at Saint Luke’s Health System in Kansas City, who was very well received at IHPM’s recent Texas Academies, and Dan Whitney, PhD, President of Medova Healthcare, which provides health benefit design services to smaller employers.
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