the Wharton Healthcare Quarterly
   April 2012
Issue No. 2  

In Every Issue

Editor's Letter

The President's Desk

Open Wide

The Philosopher's Corner

Alumni News

Featured Articles

Time for Evidence-Based Medicine: Community Oncology Should Lead the Way

Improving Healthcare by Reducing the FUD Factor: An Inside Look at “Knowsumers”

The Wharton Healthcare Quarterly Interviews Gary Phillips, Head of Healthcare Industries, World Economic Forum

WHCMAA Alumni Dinner in Philadelphia Honors Gary Phillips, Head of Industries, World Economic Forum

In Upcoming Issues

Trends in Oncology Care – ScreenCancer and Locust Walk Partners

Trends and Issues in Specialty Pharmacy

Health Disparities Series

From the Halls of Academia

The Wharton Healthcare Program - A Look Back and Where It Led

Where is the "I" in team ? - Why Collaboration Matters in Healthcare

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January 2012

Editor's Letter

Well, it looks as if we are on the right track.  93% of respondents to the survey sent out after the inaugural edition indicated that they would recommend the Wharton Health Quarterly be continued. The survey also provided lots of positive feedback and specifics regarding what resonated, what you found engaging, and enhancements to be made moving forward.  Thank you for taking the time to let us know what you think.

Readers indicated they particularly enjoyed:

  • the variety of topics and formats
  • the number and length of the articles
  • alumni news
  • the opportunity for retired and overseas alumni to stay connected

Special thanks go to Sylvia Tara, who will be stepping down from co-editorship duties due to new work and other demands, to Jeff Voigt for his continued Board “executive sponsorship” of the e-magazine, Gabriela Sanchez for pulling everything together into the e-magazine template and providing other administrative and project management duties, and Vicki Campbell for the enhanced look of the publication.

Z. Colette Edwards, WG'84, MD'85
Managing Editor

To learn more about Colette, click here. 

The President's Desk

Column Editor: Jay Mohr, WG'91, Managing Director and Co-Founder, Locust Walk Partners

Fellow Alumni, Friends and Colleagues:

One of my favorite industry events of the winter season is the annual Wharton Health Care Business Conference.  Despite the frequent travel challenges created by inclement weather conditions, it’s always worth the extra effort to get back to Philadelphia for this exceptional conference.  I’m continually impressed by how the student organizers can pull off a world-class event and make it all look so easy!   For me personally, I look forward to seeing old friends, classmates and business colleagues and sharing in the success of our Alumni Achievement Award winner (see article in this issue) at our Alumni Dinner.  We all make this annual trek based on our passion for Wharton and the Health Care Management Program! [Read more]

Open Wide

The ACA, EHBs, and Dental Health
Column Editor: Harris Contos, DMD, WG'80

With the broad provisions of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) having been laid out, attention now centers upon the actual implementation of the law.  Part of that implementation entails determining “essential health benefits” (EHB), a central tenet of the ACA that must be part of insurance plans offered to individuals and small groups through state-based exchanges and in the marketplace.  Yet the ACA itself provides only broad and sometimes ambiguous and contradictory definitions of the term.  As a start, the act specifies, in Section 1302, ten categories of health services to be included as essential – such as ambulatory services, hospitalization, and maternal and newborn care – only one of which has explicit mention of oral health, the category of pediatric services.

The Secretary of HHS asked the Institute of Medicine (IOM) to define further components and provide recommendations on the updating of EHB, which resulted in the recently released report titled “Essential Health Benefits: Balancing Coverage and Costs”. [Read more]

The Philosopher's Corner

Column Editor: Z. Colette Edwards, WG'84, MD'85

Welcome to this eclectic standing column which will feature insightful musings, words of wisdom, life lessons, and stepping stones to business success. We'd love to hear from you, so click here to participate in future editions.

This month's philosopher is Michael Rovinsky BA’81, WG’86, President of Integrity Consulting Group, Inc. [Read more]

Time for Evidence-Based Medicine:  Community Oncology Should Lead the Way

Contributors: Roy Beveridge, MD and Matt Brow

Over the past several years, a national debate has rekindled over who should have access to and who should pay for health care in this country.  Although there are many disputes, and many rational but passionate parties have agreed to disagree, most participants have confirmed a desire for better health outcomes at lower costs.  From our perspective in oncology, the widespread adoption of evidence-based care pathways should be able to achieve these concurrent aims in a high-cost and high-stakes environment.  While this seems like a common sense aspiration, unfortunately our health care financing system is not currently enabled to encourage this result.  But what if it could?  [Read more]

Improving Healthcare by Reducing the FUD Factor: An Inside Look at "Knowsumers"

Contributors: Marshall Steele, MD and Phil Burgess, PhD

Healthcare professionals have an essential mission and key responsibilities. One indicator that nothing is more important to people than their health can be found in every place of worship, where 80-90% of the prayers offered up are for health-related matters.

Public attention these days is focused on healthcare reform, where most discussion addresses macro-level issues, such as access, cost, and financing alternatives.  And for good reason. Rapidly rising healthcare costs are increasingly unaffordable for individuals, undermine the global competitiveness of America's private enterprises, and create huge deficits for governments at every level. [Read more]

The Wharton Healthcare Quarterly Interviews Gary Phillips,
Head of Healthcare Industries, World Economic Forum

Contributor: Z. Colette Edwards WG'84, MD'85

Gary Phillips, M.D. recently joined the World Economic Forum in Geneva as Head of Healthcare Industries where he leads initiatives to improve the state of global healthcare through partnership with leading industry, government, NGO, and academic institutions around the world.  He is a University of Pennsylvania “trifecta” – college, business school, and medical school!  Read on to learn about Gary’s path to Geneva and his perspectives on the healthcare arena.

WHQ:  Gary, thanks so much for your time today.  You have had a very rich and varied career.  Can you tell us a bit about how things evolved?

Gary:  Well, I would say that my career resulted from a mix of intent and serendipity.  I originally thought I might become chief of a medical department or CEO of a hospital. However, after my time at Wharton, I realized I was much more interested in the supplier side of the business, and that neither managed care nor the hospital provider side held the same appeal for me. The cost of medical school was covered by the Navy, so I had a time debt to repay, which I spent at Naval Hospital San Diego and as a medical officer on a ship and in a primary care clinic. [Read more]

WHCMAA Alumni Dinner in Philadelphia Honors Gary Phillips,
Head of Healthcare Industries, World Economic Forum

Contributor: Jeff Voigt, WG'85

 
The February 16, 2012 Wharton Healthcare Alumni Association dinner feting the annual Alumni Achievement Award recipient – Gary Phillips, MD, Wharton Healthcare MBA 1991 – Estia Restaurant, Philadelphia, PA 
 

The Wharton Healthcare Alumni Association (WHCMAA) held its annual Alumni Achievement Award event on February 16, 2012 at Estia Restaurant in Philadelphia, PA.   The award recipient, Gary Phillips, MD, WG’91 flew in from Geneva, Switzerland for the award.  Gary’s new position in Geneva is as the Head of Healthcare Industries at the World Economic Forum.  He has been an active member of the Alumni Association and the Wharton Healthcare Program since graduating and has mentored several MBA students from the program.

A common thread mentioned by all award recipients has been a desire to “pay it forward” because of the influence of others (especially from the Wharton program) in the development of their careers.  Gary was no exception, and upon receiving the award, he thanked a number of other graduates of the Wharton Healthcare Program who were responsible for mentoring and guiding him early in his career.

[Read more]

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