[box]Rachel Grob, director of national initiatives at University of Wisconsin’s Center for Patient Partnerships, will moderate the panel discussion, “Empowering Consumers: Strengthening our Voice to Transform Health Care,” onTuesday, Oct. 21 at Quinnipiac University’s North Haven Campus.[/box]
A group of health care policy experts and advocates will take part in theUniversal Healthcare Foundation of Connecticut panel discussion, “Empowering Consumers: Strengthening our Voice to Transform Health Care,” from 8 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Oct. 21, in the St. Vincent’s Medical Center Auditorium at the Center for Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences on Quinnipiac University’s North Haven Campus, 370 Bassett Road.
Rachel Grob, director of national initiatives at University of Wisconsin’s Center for Patient Partnerships, will moderate the panel, which will include: Eva Bermudez, organizer, Connecticut State Employee Association, Service Employees International Union, Local 2001; Shawn Lang, director of public policy at AIDS Connecticut; and Ted Rooney, project leader for Maine’s Aligning Forces for Quality initiative.
The panel will discuss how to motivate consumers to get involved in health system change; how to move people from being passive consumers to effective advocates; and what consumers need to know and what tools they require to maximize their influence on health system transformation.
“The health care landscape is changing rapidly,” said Frances Padilla, president of the Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut. “Many stakeholders are working to ‘fix’ our broken health care system through integrating and coordinating care, payment reform and changing patient and provider incentives. These changes are often very technical and hard to explain and most people have no idea they are occurring. The question is: how do we strengthen the consumer voice to ensure that changes meet the health and health care needs of families, employees and communities?”
A question-and-answer session will follow the panel discussion. The event also will feature breakout sessions.
The event is free, but registration is required. To register, click here.
Universal Health Care Foundation of Connecticut, whose parent organization is The Connecticut Health Advancement and Research Trust (CHART), serves as a catalyst that engages residents and communities in shaping a health system that provides universal access to quality health care and promotes health in Connecticut. The foundation believes that health care is a fundamental right and that its work is part of a broader movement for social and economic justice. For more information, visit http://universalhealthct.org.