Talking It Out: OC Conferences Focus on Healthcare
Children’s Hospital Adds Institute to Research Pediatric Medicine
HeaLTHCARE
by Vita Reed
As February and March roll in, they bring with them a season of some rather large healthcare conferences in Orange County.
The confabs include both forecast and trade sessions. Prognostication comes in the form of the University of California, Irvine, Health Care Forecast Conference, which is set to run Feb. 21 and 22 at the Arnold & Mabel Beckman Center of the National Academies of Engineering, adjacent to the UCI campus.
The UCI Graduate School of Management’s Health Care Management Program, in joint sponsorship with the College of Medicine, is presenting the event.
The keynote address “Health Politics and Policies Under the Bush Administration,” is set to be delivered by Norman Ornstein, a political pundit and TV commentator who has appeared at past conferences. Ornstein’s address is expected to touch on how politics are likely to affect health policy.
Following his address, Ornstein is scheduled to moderate a session featuring Democratic and Republican congressional staff members discussing healthcare legislation.
Besides evaluating the Bush administration and discussing health policy, other conference objectives include; reviewing key trends in managed care, the Medicare reform outlook and its possible effect on healthcare organizations; the effect of biotechnology on healthcare delivery; and Wall Street’s view of healthcare organizations.
On the trade side, Medical Design & Manufacturing West 2002 took place last week at the Anaheim Convention Center. The event was expected to draw more than 27,000 attendees and 1,800 exhibitors. Sessions included Food and Drug Administration regulation of medical devices, product design, medical plastics, and corrective and preventative actions in product development.
The show also featured Nutritionals 2002, devoted to the nutraceutical industry. Nutraceuticals are foods or parts of food that provide medical or health benefits, including the prevention and treatment of disease.
Finally, on March 21, the Orange County Association of Health Underwriters will present its annual sales exposition at the Sequoia Conference Center in Buena Park, co-hosted by the Orange County chapter of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. The association represents various insurance professionals.
A variety of healthcare executives are slated to speak at the event. Chris Wing, president of Cypress-based PacifiCare of California, is set to be at one morning general session, “As I See It: A Perspective on the Industry.” A second early session will feature Richard Figueroa, deputy legislative secretary to Gov. Gray Davis, while Bill Handel, an attorney and talk show host at KFI-AM (640), is the third general session speaker.
Breakout sessions are slated to follow in the afternoon on subjects such as the ins and outs of individual insurance, basic fundamentals of cross-border healthcare coverage and pre-paid legal insurance.
CHOC Adds Research Institute
Children’s Hospital of Orange County, Orange, has established a new research institute to examine diseases that affect children. The institute is intended to bring together basic scientists and healthcare professionals and to promote collaborative research by developing domestic and international partnerships with academia and industry.
Goals include fostering and promoting excellence in both basic and applied health research, fostering and promoting training in health research and identifying and developing the resources to carry out research.
The CHOC Research Institute is on CHOC’s main campus in Orange. It has an annual research budget of more than $3 million, through grants and contracts from federal agencies, private nonprofit organizations and for-profit research organizations.
Researchers at the hospital have been awarded grants from several local groups, such as the Pediatric Adolescent Diabetes Research Education Foundation, Pediatric Cancer Research Foundation, Slovene Rest Home Association, Arthritis Foundation of Southern California and the Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation.
More than 200 investigations are under way at the institute, including clinical studies testing a new therapy or treatment plan, basic science research projects or those conducted in a laboratory setting.
Bits and Pieces:
PacifiCare Health Systems Inc., Santa Ana, said its PacifiCare of California health plan, along with PacifiCare of Arizona, earned accreditation ratings from the National Committee for Quality Assurance for their commercial and Secure Horizons Medicare HMO plans. The committee uses various criteria to accredit plans, including standardized performance measures such as childhood immunizations and smoking cessation programs Health Care Property Investors Inc., Newport Beach, reported that it completed $240 million worth of new healthcare real estate investments, including new construction, during 2001. The investments included eight skilled nursing facilities, nine assisted living centers, nine medical office buildings, six laboratory buildings and one hospital Pierre Towns, senior vice president of MedUnite, is set to discuss “Standardization in the Insurance Industry: Is It Really Happening?” at the Feb. 14 meeting of the Orange County Employee Benefit Council. The meeting will run from 7:30 to 9:30 a.m. at the Irvine Marriott. Information: (714) 573-8605.
