Susan Dentzer

Dentzer moderated a webinar series for the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute in March-May 2020 that captured how hospitals and health systems across the country reinvented care amid COVID-19.   Day by day, they adopted new approaches in treating patients – including virtually — and moving them through emergency departments, ICU’s, and discharge areas.  What promising practices emerged during the pandemic and what lessons lie ahead – particularly if a new wave of infections emerges in the fall of 2020?

“The COVID-19 pandemic, the loss of health insurance, and unemployment at Depression-era levels has brought renewed focus on a range of health reforms aimed at providing universal health insurance coverage, particularly as the November 2020 elections approach.   Some proposals would build on and extend the reforms inherent in the Affordable Care Act; others would go further to create a single-payer system and abolish private health insurance.   There are also a variety of competing reforms in between; Democratic Presidential candidate Joe Biden, for example, endorses a Medicare “buy-in” for those age 55-65. In her presentation, Dentzer can describe the origins of “Medicare for All” and Medicare buy-in proposals in longstanding calls for national health insurance; delineate the specific “Medicare for All” and related proposals; discuss the implications for hospitals, health systems, insurers, and individuals; and weigh the political prospects of all of these reforms.   She can also provide an update on Trump administration initiatives, and on litigation over the Affordable Care Act that could affect the political and health reform landscapes.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought about a dramatic surge in virtual health care delivery by telehealth and related means.   Will this shift be permanent?  What are the implications for health care providers and consumers?  Dentzer will build on her 2018 book, Health Care Without Walls: A Roadmap for Reinvention with current examples of how health care delivery is changing and what it means.

Dentzer has a version of the Health Care Without Walls presentation specifically geared to the oncology community and the needs of cancer patients.

When it comes to the population’s health, the United States was a divided country well before the COVID-19 pandemic.   Even as well educated, upper-income Americans are living longer, hundreds of thousands of others are experiencing “deaths of despair” that result from chronic disease, mental and behavioral conditions, suicide, and substance abuse — and that may have its roots in economic decline.   The pandemic has produced very disparate death rates among African-Americans and Latinos versus whites, and among people with comorbid conditions versus healthier populations. How can the nation improve the health of its overall population and address the health crises afflicting so many? Susan Dentzer will discuss the issues and options available.

• Health care politics and policy: Where is the nation in 2019? Where are we headed?
• Prescription drugs: Weighing innovation against prices, value, and affordability
• Revamping payment in U.S. Health Care: Are we succeeding?  What are the results?
• Transparency in Health Care Costs
• Addressing the Social Determinants of Health: Communities that are leading the way
• Hospitals and health systems as “Anchor Institutions” advancing health in their communities
• A “21st Century Hill-Burton” plan: How to transform hospitals and health systems to advance health in communities