Oklahoma City, OK - January 12, 2006

Panelists

Christopher Conover, Ph.D.
Assistant Research Professor of Public Policy Studies, Center for Health Policy, Duke University

H.E. Frech III, Ph.D.
Professor of Economics, University of California, Santa Barbara

Robert B. Helms, Ph.D.
Resident Scholar and Director of Health Policy Studies, American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research

William D. Rogers, M.D., FACEP
Medical officer for the Office of the Administrator and the director of the Physicians Regulatory Issues Team at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS)

Tim Size
Director, Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative.

William Vogt, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor, H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management, Carnegie Mellon University

Health Care Community Leaders Panel

Bohn D. Allen, M.D., FACS

Allan Harder

Gary W. Mitchell, D.Ph.

Paul David Moore, D.Ph.

William M. Pierce

Expert Panel Bios

Christopher J. Conover, Ph.D.

Christopher J. Conover is assistant research professor of public policy studies in the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy, senior fellow in the Center for Health Policy at Duke University, and Director of the Health Policy Certificate Program. He received his doctorate in policy analysis from the RAND Graduate School. His research interests are in State health policy, with a focus on issues related to health care for the medically indigent, estimating the magnitude of the social burden of illness, and health regulation. He teaches in the Terry Sanford Institute of Public Policy and the Duke University School of Medicine.

Dr. Conover has provided policy advice on access and cost issues to Governors and legislative groups at the Federal and State levels. He has recently testified before Congress on the economic costs of health care regulation, publishing Health Care Regulation: A $169 Billion Hidden Tax. Dr. Conover has served as a consultant to the North Carolina Health Reform Commission, served 4 years as a Governor-appointed member of the North Carolina Council on Health Policy Information, and was a member of the Task Force on Child Health Insurance. He also has developed the Health Policy Cyberexchange (http://www.hpolicy.duke.edu/cyberexchange) and Who's Who in Health Policy (http://www.hpolicy.duke.edu/cyberexchange/whowho.html) in hopes of using the Internet to foster more evidence-based health policy decisions.

H.E. Frech III, Ph.D.

H.E. Frech III is professor of economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara; an adjunct professor at Sciences Po in Paris; and an adjunct scholar at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research in Washington, D.C. He has been a visiting professor at Harvard University and at the University of Chicago and an economist in the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare, the predecessor of the Department of Health and Human Services. He received his B.S. in industrial engineering from the University of Missouri in 1968 and his Ph.D. in economics from the University of California, Los Angeles, in 1974.

Dr. Frech has published more than 100 articles and books on health care and regulation. His research has included health insurance and managed care, optimal scale of physician practices and hospitals, physician and hospital pricing, competition, monopoly and antitrust policy, ownership, efficiency and wages in nursing homes, the production of health, distance traveled to hospitals, supplemental insurance in Medicare, malpractice reform, and private health insurance in Australia. Prof. Frech has consulted on the economics of health care for private and public organizations and has testified in U.S. Federal and State courts, State legislatures, State and Federal regulatory bodies, and in the U.S. Congress. 

Robert B. Helms, Ph.D.

Robert B. Helms is a resident scholar and director of health policy studies at the American Enterprise Institute for Public Policy Research (AEI). He has written and lectured extensively on health policy, health economics, and pharmaceutical economic issues. Dr. Helms currently participates in the Consensus Group, an informal task force that is developing market-oriented health reform concepts. He also serves on the National Advisory Council for Healthcare Research and Quality of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality and on the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Medicaid Commission.

Dr. Helms is the editor of several AEI publications on health policy, including American Health Policy: Critical Issues for Reform; Health Policy Reform: Competition and Controls; Competitive Strategies in the Pharmaceutical Industry; and Medicare in the Twenty-First Century: Seeking Fair and Efficient Reform. He has also written on the history of Medicare, the tax treatment of health insurance, and international comparisons of health systems. From 1981 to 1989, Dr. Helms served as assistant secretary for planning and evaluation and deputy assistant secretary for health policy at HHS.

William D. Rogers, M.D., FACEP

William Rogers is the medical officer for the Office of the Administrator and the director of the Physicians Regulatory Issues Team at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). He is also an active member of the medical staff of Sibley Memorial Hospital and Greater Southeast Community Hospital in Washington, D.C., where he works in the emergency departments. As a Commander in the U.S. Navy, Dr. Rogers served with the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force in Operation Iraqi Freedom, returning to reserve duty with the 4th Combat Engineer Battalion in July 2003. Dr. Rogers is also the operational medical director for the National Park Service, National Capital Area. Before joining CMS, Dr. Rogers served as the regional director for an emergency department staffing company responsible for four emergency departments in Virginia, employing 50 physicians with a budget of $10 million. Dr. Rogers is a member of the American College of Emergency Physicians (Fellow), Virginia Chapter of the American College of Emergency Physicians, National Capitol Area Emergency Services Workgroup, and Future of Family Medicine Task Force 6.

Tim Size

Tim Size is executive director of the Rural Wisconsin Health Cooperative, which he helped found in 1979. The Sauk City-based organization is owned and operated by 29 rural hospitals that focus on advocacy and shared services.

Mr. Size holds various State appointments, including positions on the Wisconsin bond authority for hospitals, the Governor's Rural Health Development Council, and the Wisconsin Leadership Institute's steering committee. Mr. Size also serves on U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt's National Advisory Committee on Rural Health and Human Services. He is a past president of the Rural Health Association and was a member of the Institute of Medicine committee that wrote Quality Through Collaboration: The Future of Rural Health.

William B. Vogt, Ph.D.

William B. Vogt is an associate professor of economics and public policy at the H. John Heinz III School of Public Policy and Management at Carnegie Mellon University and a faculty research fellow of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from Stanford University.
Dr. Vogt’s research focuses on the industrial organization of health care markets, especially hospital markets, pharmaceutical markets, and antitrust. He has consulted for the Federal Trade Commission, the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, and for numerous private clients. He is the author of a standard reference in the economics of health care antitrust and of a book on Japan’s health system. Dr. Vogt’s other scholarly publications have appeared in the health economics and industrial organization literatures.

Health Care Community Leaders Panel

Bohn D. Allen, M.D., FACS

Bohn D. Allen is a general surgeon who has been in private practice in Arlington, Texas, since 1971. Prior to moving to Arlington, he was in the U.S. Army Medical Corps for 12 years.

Dr. Allen served a residency in general and vascular surgery at Madigan GeneralHospital in Tacoma, Washington, and a fellowship in burns at the Institute of Surgical Research burn unit at BrookeArmyMedicalCenter in San Antonio. He ran a burn unit at the 106th GeneralHospital in Yokohama, Japan, and was a consultant for the treatment and evacuation of burned patients for the Far East Command during the Vietnam War.

Dr. Allen is past president of the Arlington Medical Society, the Tarrant County Medical Society, and the Fort Worth Surgical Society. He has just completed his term as president of the Texas Medical Association and has also filled various positions on its boards, councils, and committees. He serves on the Board of Trustees of both the ArlingtonMemorialHospital and the Texas Health Resources hospital system.

On three occasions Dr. Allen has provided testimony to the U.S. Congress, addressing the topics of fraud and abuse, ERISA reform, managed care, and access to care. He also has produced numerous papers and essays on clinical topics. He is a recipient of the Arlington Medical Society’s Physician of the Year award and the Tarrant County Medical Society’s Gold-Headed Cane award.

Allan Harder

Allan Harder, executive director of the Oklahoma City Area Inter-Tribal Health Board for more than 2-1/2 years, brings experience from self-governance, human resources, economic development, law enforcement, real estate, job development, knowledge of the legislative process, and general management. He is known for his listening and evaluation skills. 

Mr. Harder is a member of the Cherokee Nation, with deep roots and a long history of working with Native Americans. His mother was the first female employee of the Cherokee Nation and retired from the Indian Health Service (IHS). Several other relatives are currently employed in the IHS health care system.

Gary W. Mitchell, D.Ph.

Gary W. Mitchell has served as the chief executive officer of Newman Memorial Hospital in Shattuck, Oklahoma, since November 1990. For 6 years prior to this appointment, he was director of pharmacy and material services for the hospital. Before joining Newman Memorial, he worked at the Claremore Regional Medical Center as a registered pharmacist and for Medsource Corporation, a regional shared service organization serving Oklahoma and Kansas, as director of pharmacy management.

Mr. Mitchell is a diplomate in the American College of Healthcare Executives and has served as a member of the Regents Advisory Council. He was recently elected to serve as the Regent for Oklahoma. He has served the Oklahoma Hospital Association and the American Hospital Association in many capacities. Mr. Mitchell was recently reappointed to a 3-year term on the Hospital Advisory Council for the Oklahoma State Department of Health.

Mr. Mitchell has served as president of the Oklahoma Hospital Pharmacists Association and as chairman of the board for the Oklahoma Community Healthcare Alliance. During 2001, he served as chairman of the Rural Health Committee for the Oklahoma Futures project, a statewide planning function of State Government.

Paul David Moore, D.Ph.

Paul Moore brings a lifetime of experience related to rural health care from both his family heritage and 27 years in community and hospital pharmacy. Until June 2002, he served as the chief executive officer of the Atoka County Healthcare Authority, a nonprofit trust consisting of the Atoka Memorial Hospital, the Atoka County EMS, and the AMH Home Health Agency. He is familiar with the legislative, regulatory, and policy issues that affect the delivery of quality health care to rural residents and currently serves at the national level as chairman of the Rural Pharmacy Issues Group for the National Rural Health Association.

Mr. Moore also recognizes the vital relationship between community support for health care providers and the role the health care infrastructure plays in the economic development and stability of the rural community. He now divides his time between consulting, working in his own rural community pharmacy, and addressing national policy issues regarding the Medicare Prescription Drug Benefit and its potential impact on rural access to pharmacy services.

William M. Pierce

Bill Pierce is president of Baptist Village Retirement Communities of Oklahoma, the largest provider of not-for-profit retirement community services in Oklahoma. This organization owns and operates seven retirement communities in the State, serving more than 1,800 residents each day. An eighth Baptist Village is now in development. The Oklahoma City and Owasso Villages are the largest retirement communities in Oklahoma; as continuing-care communities, they provide independent living, assisted living, nursing centers, and home health care services.

Mr. Pierce previously served as director of adult care for the Baptist General Convention of Oklahoma and as adult care program director. He has served two terms as president of the Oklahoma Association of Homes and Services for the Aging and currently serves on the board of directors of the American Association of Homes and Services for the Aging.