ASHEcon Opening Plenary

“Bringing Economics and Behavioral Economics to Innovations in Provider Payment Reform”

5:30p.m. – 7:00p.m. June 12, 2016

Annenberg Center, Harold L. Zellerbach Theatre

ASHEcon Registration necessary to attend Opening Plenary.

Kevin Volpp, MD, PhD
Dr. Volpp is the founding Director of the Leonard Davis Institute Center for Health Incentives and Behavioral Economics, one of two NIH- funded Centers on Behavioral Economics and Health in the United States. He is also a Professor of Medicine and Vice Chairman for Health Policy of the Department of Medical Ethics and Policy at the Perelman School of Medicine, a Professor of Health Care Management at the Wharton School, and one of two Directors of the University of Pennsylvania CDC Prevention Research Center. Dr. Volpp’s research on the impact of financial and organizational incentives on health behavior and health outcomes work has been recognized by numerous awards including the Alice S. Hersh Award from AcademyHealth; the British Medical Journal Group Award for translating Research into Practice; the outstanding paper of the year from multiple research societies; a Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE); the Association for Clinical and Translational Science Distinguished Investigator Award for Career Achievement and Contributions to Clinical and Translational Science; and the Matilda White Riley Award for outstanding contributions to social and behavioral science research from NIH. Volpp did his medical training at the University of Pennsylvania and Brigham and Women’s hospital and his training in Economics at the Wharton School. He is a board-certified general internist and practicing physician at the Philadelphia VA Medical Center. 

Ezekiel J. Emanuel, MD, PhD 
Ezekiel J. Emanuel is the Vice Provost for Global Initiatives and Chair of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at the University of Pennsylvania. He was the founding Chair of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health and has served as special advisor for the Office of Management and Budget in the White House. Dr. Emanuel received his M.D. from Harvard Medical School and Ph.D. in political philosophy from Harvard University.

Amol Navathe, MD, PhD
Amol Navathe, MD, PhD, is an Assistant Professor of Health Policy and Medicine, University of Pennsylvania. Prior to joining the University of Pennsylvania, Dr. Navathe served as Managing Director, Healthcare for the firm Navigant where he led the Academic Medical Center, Value Transformation, and Analytic Services practices. Dr. Navathe is a practicing physician, health economist and engineer with expertise in delivery transformation and policy design. His work has focused on two core areas of (1) provider economic behavior including incentive design and behavioral economics and (2) applications of informatics to address health services research questions. His work in advanced health data analytics and technology to improve healthcare delivery has been implemented at numerous large health systems. He has also applied his skills to federal policy for health care evidence development and data infrastructure. Dr. Navathe completed his medical training at the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, post-graduate medical training at the Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and obtained his Ph.D. in Health Care Management and Economics at The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania.

​Meredith Rosenthal, PhD
Meredith Rosenthal, PhD, is Professor of Health Economics and Policy and the Associate Dean of Diversity at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. She is a member of the Massachusetts Public Health Council and an elected board chair of the Massachusetts Health Quality Partners. Dr. Rosenthal’s research focuses primarily on policies that will help slow the growth in healthcare spending. These efforts include changes in payment incentives, benefit design, and the provision of information and behavioral “nudges” to both patients and providers. Her research has influenced the design of provider payment systems in both the public and private sectors. She has advised federal and state policymakers in healthcare payment policy and implementation. She has also testified in Congressional hearings on direct-to-consumer advertising of prescription drugs and pay-for-performance and in legislative hearings in California and Massachusetts concerning healthcare provider payment and benefit design policies. During the 2008 presidential campaign and post-election transition, she provided policy analyses to Barack Obama’s healthcare team regarding opportunities for Medicare payment reform, pay for performance, and cost control. Her work has been published in the New England Journal of Medicine, the Journal of the American Medical Association, Health Affairs, and numerous other peer-reviewed journals.

Dana Gelb Safran, ScD
DANA GELB SAFRAN, ScD is the Chief Performance Measurement & Improvement Officer and Senior Vice President, Enterprise Analytics Performance Measurement & Improvement, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA) Associate Professor of Medicine, Tufts University School of Medicine Dr. Safran is Chief Performance Measurement and Improvement Officer and Senior Vice President, Enterprise Analytics at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Massachusetts (BCBSMA). In this role, she leads the company’s initiatives to measure and improve healthcare quality, safety and outcomes. Dr. Safran was among the lead developers of the BCBSMA Alternative Quality Contract (AQC), a provider contract model launched in 2009 with the twin goals of improving quality and outcomes while significantly slowing spending growth. Dr. Safran also retains an active academic practice, as a faculty member in the Department of Medicine at Tufts University School of Medicine, and has authored more than 75 peer-reviewed articles. She is widely recognized as having contributed to the empirical basis for our nation’s push toward a more patient-centered health care system – and for developing measures of patient care experiences that are now used nationwide, accepted as a national standard for this area of measurement, and used by the Medical Boards as part of their recertification process for physicians. Dr. Safran’s advisory roles on national and local quality measurement include work with the Office of the National Coordinator (ONC), the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the National Quality Forum (NQF), the American Board of Internal Medicine (ABIM), the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), and the Massachusetts State Quality Advisory Council (SQAC). She serves on the Boards of Directors for a number of charitable and academic organizations. Dr. Safran earned her Master and Doctor of Science degrees in Health Policy from the Harvard School of Public Health. Dr. Safran is currently co-chairing the Population Based Payment workgroup of Health Care Payment Learning and Action Network (LAN).