Nov 19^h, 2010 the forth annual conference for Health Care Transparency and Patient Advocacy will be held in Lexington Kentucky.   Speakers will include:

Richard Wild, MD, JD, Chief Medical Officer, Atlanta Regional Office Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS),  will present on, “CMS Perspectives on Value Based Purchasing, P4P, and Meaningful Use of Electronic Health Records.”  

Dr Jim Battles, PhD,  Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety, AHRQ - Presenting on Quality and Safety Provisions in the New Health Care Reform Law.

Joycelyn Elders, MD,  Former US Surgeon General

Jill Rosenthal, Program Director, National Academy for State Health Policy -- Presenting on State Medicaid Policy on Hospital Acquired Conditions.   

Register for the 2010 Conference

Links to Past Conference Presentations at www.healthconference.org

Health Care in the United States - The leader of the free world is found to be below average when compared to the 30 European and industrialized
 OECD Nations ( www.oecd.org ).   View Summary Op-Ed PDF
  

U.S. Health System Performance:

The Commonwealth Fund

-- National Scorecard on Health System Performance 2008 (Evaluates Healthy Lives, Quality Access, Efficiency, and Equity)    Full Report  
-- State Healthcare Scorecard in the United States 2009  Web Page
              Executive Summary   Full Report

Department of Health and Human Services

-- Trends in the Health of Americans - View 2009 Chartbook
-- The High Infant Mortality Rate in the US is due to a Very High Percentage of Preterm Births.  View Report

Organisation of Economic Co-Operation and Development
Health at a Glance 2009 - OECD   View Report

--  Life Expectancy at Birth (US is below average for OECD Nations) 
 View Chapter
--  Infant Mortality (US is above average for OECD Nations)  View Chapter 
Factbook 2009 Economic, Environmental and Social Statistics View Report
--  US Healthcare Expenditures (US spends the most as a percentage of GDP)  View Chapter

The US has a high maternal mortality rate compared to other industrialized nations.  The Lancet - Oct 13, 2997

The US has less hospital beds, nurses, doctors and CT scanners per capita than the average OECD nation.   Read Report