2008 Symposium

 

View streaming webcast of sessions

 

Special Symposium

Monday, September 22, 2008

InHealth’s one-day Special Symposium was an additional offering to attendees of AdvaMed 2008 and featured thought leaders from government, academe and industry discussing key issues affecting medical technology innovation.  The following sessions were offered:

Cardio Vascular Technologies:  Recognizing Rewards and Reducing Risks – 10:45 am to 12:15 pm

Moderator:

• Peter Groeneveld, M.D., Medical School of the University of Pennsylvania

As treatments for heart and vascular diseases have advanced, left behind are the days when mortality was high and costs were low.  With the development of catheters, stents, implantable devices and imaging technologies, treatments that once were invasive, painful and risky have been replaced by safer procedures with better benefits.  Yet as deaths from heart disease have dropped, concerns about costs and therapeutic risk have risen.  Panelists will bring data and informed opinion to a comprehensive discussion of how best to maximize public benefit through technology innovation.

Comparative Effectiveness:  For Whom Does this Bell Toll? – 2:00 to 3:30 pm

Moderator: 

• Lu Zawistowich, Sc.D., Senior Health Policy Advisor, Patton Boggs LLP

Comparing competing diagnostic and therapeutic technologies at first seems obvious, although studies are few and variation among treatment patterns across the USA remains great.  As the nation’s health bill rises, comparative effectiveness research (CER) is considered a valuable tool for multiple purposes.  It provides information for physicians and patients to select the best therapy.  And it may enable payers to make coverage decisions.  But for individual patients should we seek lowest cost – or best practice?  And will forcing reductions in clinical practice variation enable future innovative medical technologies to emerge?  This panel will address current proposals for CER and their implications for coverage and private and public sector reimbursement policies. Audience members will be updated on the status of current legislative efforts to address CER, ongoing government research in this area, and the likelihood of CER contributing to a reasonable balance between improved health outcomes and reduced costs.  As the 2008 Presidential Election heats up, panelists will bring focus to this vital discussion and seek to balance the understanding of its risks and rewards.

Personalized Medicine:  Affordable Promise or Perilous Cost? – 4:00 to 5:30 p.m.

Moderator: 

• Iain D. Miller, Ph.D., Oncology Strategy and Theranostics Business Unit, Biomerieux

Health care is becoming an information technology, as the human genome is decoded and technologies develop that permit its repair and predict our response to tailored therapies.  As we improve diagnosis of disease and target it with more effective and ever less-invasive treatments, we increase demand for health services and raise expectations for access to them by all.  Indeed, there are already many who attribute rising costs to technological advances.  Will science and new clinical tools improve health outcomes and lower overall costs per case?  Or will they break the Medicare bank and the public’s willingness to pay for advanced treatment?  Panelists will review the state of diagnostic and personalized medical science, and explore the most promising policy alternatives.