Featured Speakers

Donald Casey
Chief Executive Officer, West Wireless Health Institute

Donald M. Casey joined the West Wireless Health Institute as its inaugural Chief Executive Officer in March 2010, to drive the organization's mission of lowering health care costs through technology and innovation. He brings 25 years of global health care experience to the role, as well as an outstanding track record in identifying and commercializing medical innovations.

Previously, Casey served as Worldwide Chairman for Johnson & Johnson's comprehensive care group and member of the Company's Executive committee, where he oversaw its cardiovascular, diagnostic, diabetes and vision care franchises around the world. He was responsible for defining a corporate-wide comprehensive approach to chronic disease management, including leading the development of patient-centric solutions and innovations within the medical device segment for some of the world's most pervasive conditions, including diabetes and cardiovascular disorders.

Casey began his career with Johnson & Johnson in 1985, advancing into executive positions throughout the company's consumer, pharmaceutical and medical device franchises. He was also a participant in J&J's Development Corporation, a venture capital entity, and COSAT, an early stage technology identifier.

In addition to his role at the Institute, Casey is Manager of the West Health Investment Fund and sits on the boards of BioDel and Angiotech Pharmaceutical. He holds an MBA from the University of Notre Dame.

Susan Dentzer
Editor-in-Chief, Health Affairs

Susan Dentzer is the editor-in-chief of Health Affairs, the nation's leading peer-reviewed journal focused on the intersection of health, health care and health policy in the United States and internationally. One of the nation's most respected health and health policy journalists, she is an on-air analyst on health issues with the PBS NewsHour, and a frequent guest and commentator on such National Public Radio shows as This American Life and The Diane Rehm Show.

Dentzer is an elected member of the Institute of Medicine, the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, and of the Council on Foreign Relations, the independent, nonpartisan membership organization and think tank dedicated to exploring the foreign policy choices facing the United States and other countries.

At Health Affairs, Dentzer oversees the journal's team of nearly 30 editors and other staff in producing the monthly publication and web site. Health Affairs has been described by the Washington Post as the "Bible" of health policy. Its articles and their authors are frequently cited in the Congressional Record and in congressional testimony as well as in the news media. The Health Affairs web site recorded 50 million page views in 2010.

Before joining Health Affairs in May 2008, Dentzer was on-air Health Correspondent at the PBS NewsHour. From 1998 to 2008, she led the show's unit providing in-depth coverage of health care and health policy. Prior to joining the PBS NewsHour, she was chief economics correspondent and economics columnist for U.S. News & World Report, and previously was a senior writer at Newsweek.

Dentzer's other work in television has included appearances as a regular analyst or commentator on CNN and The McLaughlin Group. Her writing has also earned her several fellowships, including a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard University, where she studied health economics and policy, and a U.S.-Japan Leadership Program Fellowship, during which she researched the effects of the rapidly aging Japanese population.

A graduate of Dartmouth and holder of an honorary master of arts from the institution, Ms. Dentzer is a Dartmouth trustee emerita and chaired the Dartmouth Board of Trustees from 2001 to 2004. She serves on the Board of Overseers of Dartmouth Medical School.

Marilyn Tavenner
Acting Administrator, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Marilyn Tavenner is the top-ranking official at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), an $820 billion agency within the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services that provides health insurance for over 100 million Americans through Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). CMS is also the primary federal agency charged with implementing the Affordable Care Act. It has 10 regional offices and more than 4,000 employees nationwide.

Prior to President Barack Obama nominating her to the Administrator's post, Tavenner was CMS's Principal Deputy Administrator. Tavenner served four years as Secretary of Health and Human Resources for the Commonwealth of Virginia, where she managed 18,000 employees and a $9 billion annual budget supporting Medicaid, mental health, social services, public health, aging, disabilities agencies, and children's services.

Tavenner spent almost 25 years with the Hospital Corporation of America (HCA), beginning in 1981 as a nurse at the Johnson-Willis Hospital in Richmond, VA, ultimately resigning as HCA's Group President of Outpatient Services to join Virginia Governor Tim Kaine's cabinet in 2005.

A life-long public health advocate, Tavenner has been recognized for community service numerous times, including the March of Dimes Citizen of the Year Award in 2007. She has served on the American Hospital Association's board of directors and as board president of the Virginia Hospital Association, among others. She holds a bachelor's degree in nursing and a master's degree in health administration from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Atul Gawande, M.D., M.P.H
Surgeon, Writer, Public Health Researcher

Atul Gawande is a surgeon, writer, and public health researcher. He practices general and endocrine surgery at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He is also Associate Professor of Surgery at Harvard Medical School and Associate Professor in the Department of Health Policy and Management at the Harvard School of Public Health.

His research work currently focuses on systems innovations to transform safety and performance in surgery, childbirth, and care of the terminally ill. He serves as lead advisor for the World Health Organization's Safe Surgery Saves Lives program. He is also founder and chairman of Lifebox, an international not-for-profit implementing systems and technologies to reduce surgical deaths globally.

He has been a staff writer for the New Yorker magazine since 1998. He has written three New York Times bestselling books: COMPLICATIONS, which was a finalist for the National Book Award in 2002; BETTER, which was selected as one of the ten best books of 2007 by Amazon.com; and THE CHECKLIST MANIFESTO. He has won two National Magazine Awards, AcademyHealth's Impact Award for highest research impact on health care, a MacArthur Award, and selection by Foreign Policy Magazine and TIME magazine as one of the world's top 100 influential thinkers.

Rick Gilfillan, MD
Director, Center for Medicare & Medicaid Innovation ("CMS Innovation Center")

Richard J. Gilfillan, M.D., directs the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services' (CMS) Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation ("CMS Innovation Center"), where he is charged with developing the innovations that will improve the nation's health delivery system.

Dr. Gilfillan joined CMS in July 2010, as Director of CMS's performance-based payment policy staff, where he oversaw the development of accountable care and value-based payment initiatives.

Before coming to CMS, Dr. Gilfillan served as President and CEO of the health plan and Executive Vice President for System Insurance Operations at the Geisinger Health System, where he helped design a bundled payment, episode-of-care reimbursement system.

Dr. Gilfillan's health innovation and management experience includes Coventry Health Care, where he managed 5,000 hospitals and over 500,000 physicians; at IBC AmeriHealth, where he developed commercial, Medicare and Medicaid managed care programs, and Chief Medical Officer at Independence Blue Cross, where he led a quality improvement and medical management team responsible for 3 million commercial, Medicare, and Medicaid members.

Dr. Gilfillan began his career as a family practitioner. He received his undergraduate and medical degrees from Georgetown University, and an MBA from the Wharton School.

Todd Park
Chief Technology Officer, U.S. Department of Health & Human Services (HHS)

Todd Park joined HHS as Chief Technology Officer in August 2009. In this role, he is responsible for helping HHS leadership harness the power of data, technology, and innovation to improve the health and welfare of the nation. Mr. Park co-founded Athenahealth in 1997 and co-led its development over the following decade into one of the most innovative, socially-oriented, and successful health information technology companies in the industry. Prior to Athenahealth, he served as a management consultant with Booz Allen & Hamilton, focusing on health care strategy, technology, and operations. Mr. Park has also served in a volunteer capacity as a Senior Fellow at the Center for American Progress, where he focused on health IT and health reform policy, and as senior health care advisor to Ashoka, a leading global incubator of social entrepreneurs, where he helped start a venture to bring affordable telehealth, drugs, diagnostics, and clean water to rural India. Mr. Park graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Harvard College with an A.B. in economics.

Aneesh Chopra
United States Chief Technology Officer, Assistant to the President and Associate Director for Technology, Office of Science & Technology Policy (OSTP)

Aneesh Chopra is the United States Chief Technology Officer and in this role serves as an Assistant to the President and Associate Director for Technology within the Office of Science & Technology Policy. He works to advance the President's technology agenda by fostering new ideas and encouraging government-wide coordination to help the country meet its goals from job creation, to reducing health care costs, to protecting the homeland. He was sworn in on May 22nd, 2009. Prior to his appointment, he served as Secretary of Technology for the Commonwealth of Virginia from January 2006 until April 2009. He previously served as Managing Director with the Advisory Board Company, a publicly-traded healthcare think tank. Chopra was named to Government Technology magazine's Top 25 in their Doers, Dreamers, and Drivers issue in 2008. Aneesh Chopra received his B.A. from The Johns Hopkins University and his M.P.P. from Harvard's Kennedy School.

Jonathan Blum
Deputy Administrator and Director for the Center of Medicare, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Jonathan Blum is responsible for overseeing the regulation and payment of Medicare fee-for service providers, privately-administered Medicare health plans, and the Medicare prescription drug program. The benefits pay for health care for approximately 45 million elderly and disabled Americans, with an annual budget in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

Over the course of his career, Jonathan has become expert in the gamut of CMS programs. He served as an advisor to Senate Finance Committee members and its current chairman, Sen. Max Baucus, where he worked on prescription drug and Medicare Advantage policies during the development of the Medicare Modernization Act. He focused on Medicare as a program analyst at the White House Office of Management and Budget. Prior to joining CMS, Jonathan was a Vice President at Avalere Health, overseeing its Medicaid and Long-Term Care Practice.

Most recently, Jonathan served as a health policy advisor to the Obama-Biden Transition Team. He holds a Master's degree from the Kennedy School of Government and a BA from the University of Pennsylvania.

Joe McCannon
Senior Advisor to the Administrator, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)

Joe McCannon is the senior advisor to the administrator at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). Before joining CMS, Mr. McCannon was vice president and faculty on dissemination and large-scale improvement at the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI).

By supporting IHI's collaboration with the World Health Organization (WHO), Mr. McCannon lead organizational efforts to spread change in Africa, the United States, and several other regions. Together, IHI and WHO designed and amplified its 3 by 5 Initiative—an effort to deliver antiretroviral drugs to 3 million people globally by the end of 2005. Mr. McCannon also directed the organization's major domestic initiatives to improve patient safety, the 100,000 Lives Campaign, and the 5 Million Lives Campaign, which involved over 4,000 hospitals and 70 field offices.

Additionally, Mr. McCannon has advised or consulted with other national quality improvement efforts in the United States, England, Japan, Canada, and Denmark. He has also been involved with initiatives outside healthcare, including homelessness and corrections. He started his career in the publishing industry with roles at Fast Company, The Atlantic Monthly, and Outside magazine.

Mr. McCannon is a graduate of Harvard University and was a Reuters and Merck Fellow at Stanford University.