When Ashish K. Jha, MD, MPH, Coordinator of the White House COVID-19 Response Team, steps to the microphone at MMS headquarters in Waltham on Friday, March 31, his opening keynote address will kick off the forward-looking “Future Health: Best Practices
for Advancing Care” conference.
Presented by the Massachusetts Medical Society, with NEJM Group, this full-day conference can be attended either in person or online.
Dr. Ashish K. Jha
Jha served as the dean of the School of Public Health at Brown University and led the Harvard Global Health Institute before joining the White House in March 2022. His address, “Managing a Pandemic: Science, Health, and the Public,” will set the stage
for a series of panel discussions about issues that physicians and the health care system now face. These sessions will respond to the cataclysms of the pandemic that has spotlighted inequality in health care, called into question our payment
structures, and raised issues about our public health infrastructure and public health messaging — while also enabling technology to be a solution.
“Today’s needs are calling on us to reimagine care for the patient and create supportive systems for clinicians to succeed,” says MMS President Ted Calianos, MD, FACS. “We must meet these needs and create opportunities for thought leaders, policymakers,
health care system executives, and working physicians from throughout the Northeast and beyond to convene in a collegial atmosphere to learn and to share knowledge and experience all while working to advance best-in-class health care that is patient
centered, equitable, and sustainable.”
The goal of this inaugural conference is for attendees to come away from this immersive, interactive experience feeling connected to colleagues and re-engaged and inspired by the solutions offered.
Attendees Can Customize their Conference Experiences and Interact
In-person and online attendees will choose from multiple concurrent sessions along three professional tracks:
Reimagining Care Delivery; Public Health; and Behavioral Health and Wellness. Participants can move among the tracks to hear innovative leaders in medicine, public health, and business from across Massachusetts and the Northeast. Registration
includes 90 days of post-event access to all 11 recorded sessions.
In-person attendees will be able to meet and network over a continental breakfast, lunch, and breaks. Online participants will also have opportunities for virtual interaction with colleagues, conference exhibitors, and sponsors, and to post questions
to faculty.
Leveraging collective knowledge and practice for equitable and sustained health
Michael Curry, Esq.
Michael Curry, Esq., President & CEO, Massachusetts League of Community Health Centers, will speak during a Public Health session on “Improving Public Health Investment and Clinical Care Integration.” He notes that the social and economic value of public health is often underestimated and misunderstood, despite the numerous studies that find huge cost savings
and gains in public health improvements. This session will explore strategies to integrate public health and clinical care and what investments are needed to manage future public health crises.
“Working together, physicians and health care leaders at all levels of our health system have the power to bring public health research and evidenced-based practices — including the pioneering work of community health centers to integrate physical and
behavioral health — to the forefront of care delivery,” says Curry. “This session will explore how to leverage our collective knowledge and practice to ensure equitable and sustained health and wellness for all of our Commonwealth’s communities.”
Dr. Eric Rubin
New England Journal of Medicine editor-in-chief Eric Rubin, MD, PhD, with guests from the news media, will explore “Effective Public Health Communication” and examine lessons learned during the pandemic. “I’m looking forward to presentations and frank discussions among experts, innovators, and practitioners from throughout the Northeast
to address key questions that affect us all,” says Dr. Rubin. “In the NEJM session we’ll dive into challenges in communicating health and science information that became so evident during the pandemic and discuss ways in which we all might be
able to make public health communication more effective.”
In the Reimagining Care Delivery track, a session on “Digital Health Transformation: Integrating and Leveraging Technologies” will be moderated by Namita Seth Mohta, MD, executive editor of NEJM Catalyst Innovations in Care Delivery from NEJM Group and will include physician experts in health technology innovation.
Caring for the Wellbeing of all Patients and their Physicians
Integration of mental health and physical health is also a focus of the Behavioral Health and Wellness track. A “Patient Wellness” session will address how to discuss symptoms of anxiety and depression in patients who do not disclose and behavioral health similarities and differences in traditionally marginalized communities.
Dr. Jessica Isom
Recent work on “giving up biases and stereotypes around who can be impacted by mental health conditions,” must continue, says speaker Jessica Isom, MD, MPH, a psychiatrist at Codman Square Health Center. And, in an over-burdened system with a shortage
of all types of mental health workers, she notes, an effective use of resources might be to create care structures for specific levels of patient need. “Many of our patients are managing chronic conditions,” Dr. Isom says. “That demographic is
more at risk than others [for mental health issues]. So, being really primed to pay attention to that, and having some structure in place to move them along through screening and then referrals, would be very helpful.”
A session focused on Physician Well-Being will explore ways for physicians to increase autonomy, flexibility,
and overall satisfaction in their practice, move through barriers to job fulfillment, and identify paths to find or become an intergenerational mentor.
Marcela G. del Carmen, MD, MPH, who is president of the Massachusetts General Physicians Organization, will offer the closing keynote address.
See program overview, explore the conference schedule and faculty, and register here.
