Symposium to Discuss Effects of Privatization of Public Health
The
private sector is increasingly exerting influence on health care both
inside and outside of the United States. To address some of the accompanying
issues this influence brings, Dean Barry Bloom will resume hosting the
Future of Public Health Millennial Symposium series on Thursday, January
18 from 3:45 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. in the Snyder Auditorium with a forum entitled
"Privatization of Public Health: What Role Government?" The
panelists are George Halvorson, president and CEO, HealthPartners, Inc;
Bruce Vladeck, director, Institute of Medicare Practice; and Sandra Hernandez,
CEO, The San Francisco Foundation.
"Most of the delivery and financing of health care is controlled by the private sector," said Meredith Rosenthal, assistant professor of health economics and policy in the Department of Health Policy and Management, who helped to organize the forum. "In an ideal situation, you would want those institutions to think about public health as well."
The symposium will be devoted to a discussion of the emergence of private health systems worldwide and its public health implications. Specifically, as these systems ascend, what is government's responsibility? Who will regulate and monitor these systems? Who will be responsible for traditional public health interventions, and what is their impact on public health? What do these trends mean for a school of public health?
A reception with the speakers will follow.
The next symposium will be on February 8, "Reducing Social Disparities
in Health."
