The 2015 opening keynote speaker for NWCDC is known for captivating audiences with his passion for healthcare.
By: Nancy Grover, Risk & Insurance
Employers and workers’ compensation payers have grown increasingly interested in delivering quality healthcare that mitigates the rising costs of chronic health conditions, lengthy disabilities, and stubborn claims.
Yet determining what defines quality healthcare remains a challenge.
That is why the National Workers’ Compensation and Disability Conference® & Expo selected Arthur M. Southam M.D. to deliver the opening keynote presentation at this year’s event scheduled for Nov. 11-13 at Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
Southam is executive VP health plan operations for Kaiser Foundation Health Plan Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals. He is known for driving measured improvements in medical care quality delivered by Kaiser, which serves 9.6 million health-plan members. As a speaker, Southam is also respected for captivating audiences with his passion for healthcare.
The keynote will focus on “leveraging what organizations have been able to do on the group health side and how we can use those tools in workers’ comp, and why that is important to employers.”
“So many organizations talk about either quality-focused networks or provider quality or quality outcomes, but how do you define ‘quality’ and how do you get there?” — Denise Gillen-Algire, director, managed care and disability in corporate risk management, Albertsons Safeway Inc.
Kaiser is the recipient of multiple awards from a variety of organizations, including the National Committee for Quality Assurance, U.S. News and World Report’s Top Hospitals, the Leapfrog Group, and J.D. Power and Associates. “That’s how we came to Dr. Southam for the presentation,” said Denise Gillen-Algire, director, managed care and disability in corporate risk management for Albertsons Safeway Inc., and the conference’s program co-chair.
Employers need to understand the importance of employees’ overall health and its impact on the workers’ comp system. Conference organizers say Southam’s experience on the group health side can demonstrate how workers’ comp can make similar improvements that lead to better outcomes.
As Gillen-Algire explained, injured workers should be viewed in terms of their overall health, not just the occupational injury at hand.
“That’s absolutely a focus,” she said. “You can’t split a person into pieces. A person doesn’t come to you as a 2 percent problem over here and the rest over here in group health. [It’s important to] be able to tie what organizations are doing on the group health side and why that is important for workers’ comp in employee health outcomes.”
Southam will deliver the opening keynote address, Achieving Excellence in Medical Treatment, on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at Mandalay Bay.
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This article was originally published by Risk & Insurance. You can see the original article here: http://www.riskandinsurance.com/keynote-speaker-driven-to-improve-health-care/
