Health Futurist To Present Primary Care Scenarios For 2025 At Physician Practice Survival Conference

Aug. 17, 2012 - PRLog -- Contact:
Lauren Methena
804-762-9600 ext. 203
lmethena@briefingsmediagroup.com

For Immediate Release:  August 17, 2012

Health futurist to present scenarios for primary care in 2025 at
Physician Practice Survival Conference

Clement Bezold, Ph.D., founder of the Institute for Alternative Futures, will present the findings from a project his institute produced with support from a grant from the Kresge Foundation, called “Primary Care 2025:  A Scenario Exploration,” at the Physician Practice Survival Conference, being held September 14-15, in Alexandria, VA. Dr. Bezold’s presentation is part of the conference’s overall strategy to examine the economic challenges that threaten the survival of independent physician practices, while exploring viable business models that can produce long-term economic stability for physicians who wish to remain independent.

For the Primary Care 2025 project, experts took all the factors that affect today’s healthcare climate into consideration, such as economics, the global debt crisis, healthcare reform, payment approaches,  technological advances, and the aging population, to come up with realistic possible outcomes for the state of healthcare in 2025. Given the many variable forces that are shaping healthcare right now, Dr. Bezold’s message to independent physicians is simple:  Be prepared and consider all your options. He says, “There are important alternative paths that primary care might take. It’s important to consider the driving forces shaping primary care and the range of alternative futures for primary care itself.”

Dr. Bezold and the Institute for Alternative Futures hope this report will “enable leaders in healthcare to make strategic decisions that more effectively take the future into account.” The opening lines of the report warn, “This is not a time for reactive decisions based only on a view of past trends in healthcare.” Dr. Bezold wants to see physicians and policy makers take a more holistic approach to preparing for the many future possibilities of healthcare. He says, “The inherently uncertain future of primary care right now in these turbulent times means that a systemic understanding of any and all future possibilities is all the more important for deciding what we do today and tomorrow.”

Dr. Bezold is a leading health futurist who has served in the role of vision coach for major public and private organizations, including the World Health Organization, the Pan American Health Organization, state agencies, health professional associations, and voluntary organizations, such as the American Cancer Society and AARP. He has led projects for federal government agencies, such as the Health Resources and Services Administration, the Centers for Disease Control, vision coaching for the Healthy People 2010 Objectives effort at the Department of Health and Human Services, as well as futures work for the Department of Defense and Government Accountability Office.

The two-day Physician Practice Survival Conference will bring together some of the most respected leaders in healthcare, from practicing physicians to industry executives to third-party solution providers, to examine the economic challenges faced by independent physician practices nationwide. A full roster of healthcare thought leaders will also discuss the business models that can answer these challenges and produce long-term economic stability for physicians who wish to remain independent.

The conference speaker line-up includes many more noteworthy physicians, including Kevin Fickenscher, M.D., President and CEO of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA); Kerry Willis, M.D., chief physician strategist of ACO Subgroup Leadership at Proactive HealthCare USA; and Michael Parkinson, M.D., senior medical director, Health and Productivity, UPMC Health Plan and Work Partners and former president of the American College of Preventive Medicine.

For the full agenda, speakers’ bios, and registration information, visit www.PhysicianPracticeSurvival.com or call 1-800-431-7571.

About the Physician Practice Survival Conference
The Physician Practice Survival Conference was created to promote a healthy discussion of the business models that can help independent physicians build sustainable medical practices and provide quality care to their patients.

Accreditation Statement
This activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education through the joint sponsorship of the Institute for the Advancement of Human Behavior (IAHB) and Briefings Media Group. The IAHB is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians.

Credit Designation Statement
The IAHB designates this live activity for a maximum of 10.25 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)TM. Physicians should claim only the credit commensurate with the extent of their participation in the activity.