Weitzman Symposium To Bring Health Care Leaders To City

From the Community Health Center
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Seizing the Moment: From Expanding Access to Transforming Care

The Eighth Annual Weitzman Symposium, hosted by the Community Health Center, Inc.’s (CHC) Weitzman Center for Innovation in Community Health and Primary Care, will be held on Thursday, May 16 from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. at Wesleyan University, Beckham Hall, Fayerweather Building, 45 Wyllys Avenue.

This year’s topic “Seizing the Moment: From Expanding Access to Transforming Care” focuses on transforming primary health care. The symposium will focus first on the rapidly changing interface between primary and specialty care, with nationally-known leader and creator of “Project ECHO” (Extension of Community Health Outcomes) Dr. Sanjeev Aurora who will speak about what inspired him to create the “ECHO” model of case-based, distance learning, between primary care and specialty providers, its outcomes, and how it is being replicated across the country. Dr. Aurora’s presentation will be followed by a “live time” video connection of the audience to CHC’s own “Project ECHO” focused on managing chronic pain, with CHC’s Chief Quality Officer, and Director of the Weitzman Quality Institute, Dr. Daren Anderson introducing the expert faculty from the Integrated Pain Center of Arizona who will lead the session.

Dr. Rob Aseltine of the Institute of Public Health Research of the University of Connecticut, along with CHC’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Nwando Olayiwola, will look at a different way of bridging the primary care to specialty gap using “eConsults.”

From Washington, DC, Executive Director Dr. Joe Selby of Patient Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI), an organization created by the Affordable Care Act, will speak from a research and policy perspective on designing research with the patient’s interest in mind. He will be joined by a representative of one of the new PCORI funded projects in New England, at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Dr. Anug Dalal, who is also an instructor at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Dalal will speak to the benefits of patient centered medical home-hospital collaborations in improving transitions in care.

Sue Birch, RN, MBA, Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Health Care Policy and Financing will lead a discussion on how state health policy initiatives are a driving force behind improved health outcomes.

Rounding out the day’s program, Trevor Torres, the 16 year old, self-declared “diabetes evangelist” will share his perspective on what the “millennial generation” expects from health care.

The Symposium will attract approximately 200 leaders in healthcare from around the country. This highly diverse audience is made up of leaders, policy makers and practitioners.

CHC will be streaming the symposium live on the web utilizing Ustream. Android and iPhone users can download the free Ustream application to view the broadcast in real time. To watch online log onto www.chc1.com and click on the “Weitzman Symposium” link on the home page (which will be available starting Wednesday, May 15), or visit the CHC blog at http://community.chc1.com/ to learn about different ways to access the live stream and interact with the symposium via social media (including Twitter, Facebook, etc.).

CHC, Inc. thanks the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut and Quest Diagnostics for their support of the 8th Annual Weitzman Symposium.