Debate on Healthcare Price Transparency
The rise of healthcare consumerism has spurred demand for greater transparency around drug pricing and hospital costs. Recent policy proposals have been introduced to address this. This panel engages diverse perspectives from across the healthcare ecosystem and media to facilitate a debate on the opportunities and potential risks associated with a shift towards greater healthcare price transparency, including the impact this will have on payers, providers, and consumers.
Margot Sanger-Katz (Moderator)
The new york times, health care correspondent
Margot Sanger-Katz is a domestic correspondent for The New York Times, where she writes about health care for The Upshot, the Times site about politics, economics and everyday life. Before coming to The Times, she was a reporter at National Journal and The Concord Monitor and an editor at Legal Affairs and the Yale Alumni Magazine. In 2014, she completed a Knight-Bagehot Fellowship in Economics and Business Journalism at Columbia University. She can be found on Twitter at @sangerkatz.
Niall Brennan
Health Care cost institute, president and CEO
Mr. Brennan is the President and CEO of the Health Care Cost Institute. In this role, he is responsible for overseeing HCCI’s overall research agenda that seeks to highlight trends in US health care spending and the factors behind those trends. Niall also works to maximize the reach of HCCIs data by licensing directly to leading academic researchers and through HCCIs role as a Medicare certified Qualified Entity. Niall works closely with federal and state policymakers, including the US Congress on key health policy issues. He is a nationally recognized expert in health care policy, the use of health care data to enable and accelerate health system change, and data transparency. He has published widely in leading academic journals, including the Journal of the American Medical Association, the New England Journal of Medicine and Health Affairs. Prior to joining HCCI, Mr. Brennan was Chief Data Officer at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). He has also worked at the Brookings Institution, the Medicare Payment Advisory Commission, the Congressional Budget Office, the Urban Institute, and Price WaterhouseCoopers.
Mr. Brennan received his MPP from Georgetown University and his BA from University College Dublin, Ireland.
Elizabeth Fowler, Ph.d J.D.
The Commonwealth fund, Executive VP of Programs
Elizabeth Fowler currently serves as Executive Vice President of programs at the Commonwealth Fund, a nonprofit private foundation supporting independent health policy research to promote a high performing health system that provides affordable quality healthcare to all. She joined the Commonwealth Fund from Johnson & Johnson where she was Vice President for Global Health Policy. Liz was special assistant to President Obama on healthcare and economic policy at the National Economic Council. In 2009-2010, she was Chief Health Counsel to Senate Finance Committee Chair, Senator Max Baucus (D-MT), where she played a critical role developing the Senate version of the Affordable Care Act and drafting the 2003 Medicare Prescription Drug, Improvement and Modernization Act (MMA).
Liz has nearly 25 years of experience in health policy and health services research. She earned her bachelor’s degree from the University of Pennsylvania, a Ph.D. from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health and a law degree (J.D.) from the University of Minnesota. She is admitted to the bar in Maryland, the District of Columbia, and the U.S. Supreme Court. Liz is a Fellow of the inaugural class of the Aspen Health Innovators Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She serves on the board of directors for the National Quality Forum, the National Health Counsel, the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation, and the Winston Fellowship.
Jeanette Thornton
America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP), Senior Vice President of Product, Employer, and Commercial Policy
Jeanette is the Senior Vice President of Product, Employer, and Commercial Policy at America’s Health Insurance Plans (AHIP) in Washington, D.C. In her current role, she oversees AHIP policy development for the commercial health insurance market ranging from the individual market (including Exchange implementation and operations), the small group market, employer sponsored health insurance and supplemental health insurance.
A strategic leader with over 15 years of experience in health policy and government, Jeanette has extensively focused on Affordable Care Act regulations and implementation since early planning began. Before joining AHIP, Jeanette held positions in the Federal government at the Office of Management and Budget and Social Security Administration. Ms. Thornton holds a Masters Degree in Public Administration from the University of Pittsburgh and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Political Science from Western Illinois University.