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EVENT:
Ambulatory care - the treatment of chronic medical problems - results in 80 percent of health care dollars going towards 20 percent of the population in the United States. It is an epidemic that can be stemmed by improving patient care and the quality of that care, as well as stressing more preventative options to patients, says one national expert.

MargaretO’Kane, Ph.D, president and founder of the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) will present her recommendations to this problem when she gives the 15 th annual Dr. Raymond C. Grandon Lecture at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University.

Dr.O’Kane will discuss “M anaging the Quality of Ambulatory Care,” analyzing the development of ambulatory care quality measurement, the impact of performance measurement on the quality of such care and the current challenges to expanding the quality of chronic illness care measurement.

DATE: Thursday, May 4, 2006

TIME: Noon - 2 p. m.

LOCATION:
DePalma Auditorium
Thomas Jefferson University Hospital
Thompson Building, Basement level
Pavilion Entrance, 11 th Street between Walnut and Sansom Sts.
Philadelphia

BACKGROUND:
The National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) is an independent, non-profit organization whose mission is to improve health care quality. Under Dr. O’Kane’s leadership, NCQA has developed broad support among the employer and health plan communities; most Fortune 500 companies will only do business with NCQA Accredited health plans and nearly all use Health Plan Employer Data and Information Set (HEDIS®) data to evaluate the plans that serve their employees.

Dr. O’Kane was named Health Person of the Year in 1996 by Medicine & Health; in 1997 she received a Founder’s Award from The American College of Medical Quality, and in 1999, she was elected as a member of the Institute of Medicine, an independent body that helps shape national health care policy. In 2000, Dr. O’Kane received the Centers for Disease Control’s Champion of Prevention award, the agency’s highest honor. In 2005, Dr. O’Kane was named one of Modern Healthcare’s Top 25 Women in Health Care, and she has previously been voted one of the nation’s “100 Most Powerful People in Health Care.” Under her leadership in 2005, NCQA received awards from the National Coalition for Cancer Survivorship, the American Diabetes Association and the American Pharmacists’ Association.

Raymond C. Grandon, M.D., for whom the lecture series is named, earned the doctor of medicine degree from Jefferson Medical College in 1945. Dr. Grandon entered private practice as a solo practitioner. An internist with a special interest in cardiovascular disease, Dr. Grandon was responsible for the first televised heart operation in the United States. He was also a clinical investigator of cardio-active drugs and helped to coordinate the nation’s first commercially successful cardiac rehabilitation program.

The Grandon lecture is sponsored by the Department of Health Policy at Jefferson Medical College of Thomas Jefferson University. The department, under the direction of David Nash, M.D., MBA, the Dr. Raymond C. and Doris N. Grandon Professor and Chair of Health Policy, develops long-term strategies to prepare healthcare providers for the challenges of a dynamic healthcare environment. The department serves as a key contributor to the education and research programs of Thomas Jefferson University Hospital and Jefferson Medical College.