Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum

Where healthcare organizations in Northern Virginia network and collaborate

The Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum regularly convenes leaders in health policy and healthcare administration for discussions of current health policy issues. We are proud to be a forum for the exchange of ideas and to offer health policy professionals the opportunity to learn from each other and from experts in the field.

COMING ON APRIL 24: NVHPF’S HEALTHCARE REPORTER PANEL

 

NVHPF will be convening healthcare reporters from leading publications for a discussion of what healthcare headlines to expect in this election year.

 

Details coming soon. Please join our mailing list to be assured you receive updates.

OUR MOST RECENT EVENT WAS

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: INSIGHTS AND INNOVATIONS IN TOMORROW’S HEALTHCARE

 

Artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing healthcare. Hospitals and health systems are already seeing the benefits of deploying AI in the clinical setting, including operating as a second set of eyes for radiologists, mitigating the risk of human error, and enabling early detection of adverse events in remote patient monitoring. However, questions remain regarding how to regulate AI while ensuring that it is deployed in a safe, unbiased manner.

 

At Houston Methodist, a core team of health and technology professionals, self-described as “Digital Innovation Obsessed People,” leads the hospital’s Center for Innovation. Their mandate: drive new pilots and programs that will facilitate success across the healthcare spectrum. Roberta Schwartz, PhD, MHS, is the Executive Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer at the Houston Methodist healthcare system. She joined the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum on March 20 to share her front-line view of the future of AI in healthcare as well as the existing innovations shaping our present-day healthcare system.

 

Watch highlights or the event in its entirety below. A summary will be posted here soon.

2024 EVENTS

 

FEBRUARY: AN EXAMINATION OF THE MEDICARE ADVANTAGE PROGRAM

On February 28, 2024, the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum hosted Meredith Freed, Senior Policy Manager at KFF’s Program on Medicare Policy, and Gregory Berger, Principal Policy Advisor for Government Relations at Kaiser Permanente, for a discussion of Medicare Advantage.

 

Watch the highlights or the event in its entirety below. Download a summary here.


JANUARY : EXPLORING TOMORROW’S PAIN RELIEF

On January 23, 2024, the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum hosted Sanjay Sinha, MD, Founder and Chief Innovation Officer of Gate Science and Lead Anesthesiologist at the Connecticut Joint Replacement Institute, and Dru Riddle, PhD, DNP, CRNA, FAAN, President of the American Association of Nurse Anesthesiology in a discussion of  promising non-opioid approaches to pain control and the necessary steps to ensure their availability to patients who might otherwise be put at risk for opioid abuse.

 

Watch highlights of the event or a full-length video below.

PAST EVENTS

October 24, 2023: The Future of Diagnostic Testing

Diagnostic tests continue to rapidly evolve, allowing healthcare professionals to deliver personalized, precise, and expeditious results to their patients. Nevertheless, government agencies responsible for regulating and reimbursing these cutting-edge technologies often appear to lag behind. What measures can be implemented to ensure accessible and affordable access to novel diagnostic tools while simultaneously sustaining incentives for the companies investing in their development?

Anna Scrimenti, Associate Director of Public Policy and Advocacy for the Association for Molecular Pathology (AMP), and Zach Rothstein, Executive Director for AdvaMedDx, joined the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum on Tuesday, October 24, to discuss informed options for a path forward that will benefit the entire healthcare community.

 

Video highlights are available on our Events page. 

 


On September 19, NVHPF hosted our Fall Media Panel’s discussion of “What’s Next In Healthcare: The Defining Trends to Follow”

 

With Congress back in session and election year issues coming into focus, health policy is dominating much of the conversation in Washington. Healthcare costs remain a source of financial pain throughout the country, and the Biden Administration has revealed its list of the first ten drugs subject to price negotiations under the Inflation Reduction Act. Lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic are changing the way doctors care for their patients. Medical devices promise innovative new treatments, and the seemingly intractable scourge of substance abuse continues to ravage the well-being of thousands of Americans. Who will emerge as victors among the competing stakeholders in today’s healthcare debates?

 

Michelle Stein, Health Care Editor, Reporter, and Assistant Publisher at Inside Health Policy; Rachana Pradhan, Correspondent for Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) Health News; and Shannon Firth, Washington Correspondent of MedPage Today joined the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum on Tuesday, September 19, to share their insights on what is ahead in healthcare for providers and patients.

Read a summary of the event here.

Find a transcript of the event here.

Video highlights are available on our Events page. 


August 22, 2023: Reauthorizing the SUPPORT Act: The Future of the Fight Against Addiction

 

The massive bipartisan SUPPORT Act, originally passed in 2018 to provide addiction and recovery programs nationwide, is due to expire September 30.

There is bipartisan agreement in both the House and Senate on the need to reauthorize the bill, providing new momentum to stem the overdose crisis that now kills more than 100,000 Americans each year.

Major questions now focus on what the renewed bill will cover, what it might offer to support non-opioid pain relief and what the implications will be for public health services in both urban and rural areas.

On August 22, Megan Meacham, Director of Rural Strategic Initiatives at the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA), and Andrew Cosgrove, Senior Director, Policy and Research at the Biotechnology Innovation Organization (BIO), joined NVHPF in conversation about the reauthorized legislation and the future of the war on drugs.

Watch highlights of the event here or watch the event in its entirety here.

Read a summary of the event here.


May 24, 2023: Negotiating Drug Prices: What Should CMS Do Next?

 

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is facing a critical deadline in its effort to implement the Medicare Drug Price Negotiation Program, created by the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 (IRA). Under the Program, CMS will negotiate directly with drug manufacturers to lower the price of certain high expenditure single-source brand-name Medicare Part B and Part D drugs.

The first ten drugs selected for negotiation were announced on August 29, and the price set by CMS for these drugs will go into effect in 2026. CMS is in the process of making pivotal decisions to implement this landmark change in Medicare drug pricing. The Agency has solicited public comment on its process for the first year of the Program, including how it will collect and use data for negotiation.

On May 24, 2023, as the selection of the first ten drugs was still pending, John O’Brien, President and Chief Executive Officer of the National Pharmaceutical Council (NPC), Jason Spangler, Chief Executive Officer of the Innovation and Value Initiative (IVI), and and Monét Stanford, Pharm.D., Director of Policy, Association for Accessible Medicines, joined the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum on to share their insights on the decisions before CMS regarding this critical process, the impact those decisions may have, and their outlook on the next steps for CMS.

Watch highlights of the event here or watch the event in its entirety here.


February 15, 2023: Healthcare Headlines to Expect in 2023

 

On February 15, the Northern Virginia Health Policy Forum hosted three veteran Washington-based reporters in a discussion of the healthcare headlines we can expect to see in 2023.

Our panelists were:

 

  • Julie Appleby, senior correspondent for Kaiser Health News, who reports on the implementation of healthcare law, healthcare treatments and costs, trends in health insurance, and policy affecting hospitals and other medical providers.

 

  • Maya Goldman, who covers health policy issues as a reporter for Axios. Goldman focuses on health policy issues in Congress and the federal agencies, including Medicare payment, telehealth, and price transparency.

 

  • John Wilkerson, Washington correspondent for STAT, who writes about the politics of healthcare. In his more than 20 years of covering healthcare payment and regulation, Wilkerson has extensively covered policies that impact prescription drug prices.

 

Watch highlights here.