Health care reform forum to be held on campus today

Broadcast information The forum will be broadcast to the following locations: Clarkson West; College of Nursing Lincoln Division Room 304; College of Dentistry Dixon Hall; College of Nursing Kearney Division Room 144W; and College of Nursing West Nebraska Division Room 201C. The forum also will be broadcast to Rooms 1004 and 1005 in the Durham Research Center to accommodate overflow crowds. Also, the forum will be recorded and posted online at www.unmc.edu/healthcarereform shortly after the presentation.

UNMC, The Nebraska Medical Center and UNMC Physicians employees can learn about the latest in health care reform and how it may affect them today during a forum at noon in the Durham Research Center Auditorium.

The employee forum — focused solely on health care reform and its impact — will be broadcast to sites in Lincoln, Kearney and Scottsbluff.

UNMC Chancellor Harold M. Maurer, M.D., will provide the welcome at the forum, and government relations director Mark Bowen will provide an overview of the status of proposed legislation in Congress. An ensuing panel discussion will feature:

• Health policy expert Keith Mueller, Ph.D., interim dean of the College of Public Health;
  
• Glenn Fosdick, FACHE, president and CEO of The Nebraska Medical Center; and
  
• Rodney Markin, M.D., Ph.D., president of UNMC Physicians.

The forum is part of the effort of UNMC, UNMC Physicians and The Nebraska Medical Center to be an objective resource for elected officials, business and community entities in communicating the potential impact of health care reform proposals.

As part of its efforts, the med center formed a health care review group to study the issues that will affect the medical center and its employees. The group includes 19 people from the medical center.

Some of the issues of health care reform include:

• Universal health care coverage;
  
• A potential public insurance plan;
  
• Payments and reimbursement costs;
  
• Health care workforce & training.