Web exclusive: ASTRO president, CEO attend healthcare discussion sponsored by White House
By Nicole Napoli, Publications Specialist
ASTRO President Tim Williams, M.D., and CEO Laura Thevenot attended a healthcare stakeholders’ discussion at the Eisenhower Executive Office Building on June 18, 2009, which was sponsored by the White House Office of Health Reform, to discuss how to use prevention and wellness initiatives to lower healthcare costs and improve quality of care.
The discussion was the third in a series of healthcare stakeholder discussions with physicians put on by the Health Reform Office and was moderated by representatives from the Health Reform Office, the Office of Management and Budget, the National Economic Council, the Office of Public Engagement and the Department of Health and Human Services. Dr. Williams was one of less than 25 physicians invited to participate in this exclusive event.
During the panel, Dr. Williams discussed survivorship programs that have been put in place by Boca Raton Community Hospital in Boca Raton, Fla., where he works in the Lynn Cancer Institute Department of Radiation Oncology, and how those programs could be put into place by other specialties.
“The main goal is to keep patients out of the hospital,” Dr. Williams said.
Other issues discussed were curbing obesity by implementing mandatory physical education and nutritional education in schools, requiring employers to perform health risk assessments on employees and improved training for medical students.
The discussion was simultaneously broadcast live on www.whitehouse.gov, www.healthreform.gov and on Facebook as part of President Obama’s commitment to transparency. Facebook followers were allowed to submit questions and comments during the panel as part of an experimental live-stream discussion; those comments and questions were then read to the panel at various intervals.
To read the blog from the meeting, visit www.whitehouse.gov/blog and to learn more about the White House’s health reform plans, visit www.healthreform.gov.