TMC PULSE

t m c » p u l s e | j u n e 2 0 1 5 22 Solving for the Future Health care professionals—from clinicians to CEOs—meet at the Medical World Americas conference to discuss innovative solutions for the field's toughest issues Among the results Garson dis- cussed, 83 percent of those surveyed said having health insurance was "very important" or "absolutely essential." Fifty-nine percent thought those who make poor health choices, such as smoking, should have to pay more for insurance, but opinions were nearly evenly split on whether foods that lead to obesity, like sodas, should be more expensive. Fifty-two percent were will- ing to give up fast food to afford insur- ance, but only 12 percent were willing to give up their cell phone. Also during the opening ple- nary session, Texas Medical Center President and CEO Robert C. Robbins, M.D., moderated a panel of health care executives, including Mark Boom, M.D., president and CEO of Houston Methodist Hospital, Paul Klotman, M.D., president and CEO of Baylor College of Medicine, and Dan Wolterman, CEO of Memorial Hermann Health System. The panel covered a number of challenges facing the health care industry—including lack of access to quality care—as well as some of the find- ings of the Consumer Health Report. All expressed disappointment, but not necessarily surprise, that not one of the people polled in the report said they felt quality was the most important aspect of health care. "How do we explain to a lay individual what true quality is?" said Wolterman. "That's a lot of education. I think we have to be much more trans- parent in our industry." The CEOs also discussed how innovation and new technologies will shape the future of the health care industry and affect cost. Thus far, Boom said, "one of the biggest challenges" regarding technology and health care is that innovation has not necessarily been having the most desired effect on the bottom line. "Hopefully we're going to see more partnerships and more collaboration, to have that innovation actually produce more efficient health care and cheaper cost," he said. Wolterman suggested one strategy for delivering more efficient care at a lower cost would be to find ways to get ahead of the curve rather than waiting to care for people once they're sick. "We need to shift a little bit away from 'How do we cure people?' to 'How do we keep them healthy and well?"' he said. Other highlights of the plenary sessions held each of the three days included a discussion of data-driven health care and how to use big data to improve care and efficiency and reduce cost, and a panel on "The Realities and Risks of Worldwide Pandemics" led by Brett Giroir, M.D., executive vice president and CEO of Texas A&M Health Science Center and head of the governor-appointed Texas Task Force on Infectious Disease Preparedness and Response. In addition to the plenary sessions, the event featured smaller discussions focused on specific topics like cancer, stroke, health policy and diabetes; an expo floor featuring over 50 exhib- itors; and ancillary and co-located events held by organizations such as the American College of Healthcare Executives Southeast Texas Chapter and the Healthcare Design Academy. The Texas Medical Center produced multiple events, including a poster session during which a panel of judges, with help from the audience, selected first, second and third place cash prize winners. First place winner, Antentor Othrell Hinton Jr., a graduate student and research assistant at Baylor College of Medicine, was awarded $1,000 for F or three days in late April, over 2,000 health care professionals— from physician assistants in scrubs to hospital CEOs in suits—met at the sec- ond annual Medical World Americas conference to examine the key issues facing today's health care industry and discuss possible solutions. Held at the George R. Brown Convention Center, the unique confer- ence was developed through a partner- ship between the Texas Medical Center, the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau (GHCVB), Houston First Corp., and Germany-based Messe Dusseldorf, which hosts MEDICA, the world's largest medical trade fair. The conference kicked off with a highly anticipated opening plenary session: Arthur "Tim" Garson Jr., director of the Health Policy Institute at the Texas Medical Center, shared the results of the first annual Texas Medical Center Consumer Health Report. The first-of-its-kind Nielsen survey col- lected data from 1,000 Texans about attitudes towards health insurance and care. "For each question, we wanted to know the effect of income, age, gender, race, whether you're insured or not, have a chronic disease or not, rural and urban," said Garson, who had the audi- ence answer each question before he shared the results the survey found. We noticed that folks stayed longer this year. We think that's a testament to not just the content but also the interactive things we had on the expo floor. — MICHAEL HECKMAN Senior Vice President of Partnerships and Event Development for the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau B y S h e a C o n n e l l y LEFT: The judges table at the TMCx pitch event. RIGHT: Representatives from the winning companies pose at the end of the pitch event.

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