Futurist Andy Hines to Moderate 2008 DC Health Summit

October 10, 2008 —Futurist Andy Hines will be the moderator at this month's DC Health Summit, an annual conference that brings together 100 of the top minds in the health care industry. Hines will ask and field questions of an all-star health care panel including Kaiser Permanente's Director of Population Care Dr. Amy Compton-Phillips, Neurosurgeon Dr. James Melisi, the National Rehabilitation Hospital's VP Dr. Paul Rao, Maryland's former Insurance Commissioner Al Redmer, and UnitedHealthcare COO Kevin Ruth — and Virginia Senator George Barker, who prior to taking office last November worked for 30 years for the Health Systems Agency of Northern Virginia where he helped contain skyrocketing health care costs, promote quality of care, and ensure access to medical care for all Northern Virginians.  

What will be the Future of Health Insurance? Based on his decades of experience as a futurist, Hines has developed strategic insights of his own. As the director of custom projects at the global futurist research and consulting firm Social Technologies, he and his colleagues have worked on several projects that explore the future of health care in America. Hines says some big issues ahead include: 

• Societal views on personal responsibility — Will Americans begin to lean toward accommodation or a punitive approach such as saying obesity is a disease beyond one’s control — or their fault? 

• The implications of a deeper move to holistic wellness — To what extent will innovations like support groups be covered? 

• The buck stops where? — Ultimately, who will be responsible for a person’s health; the individual, employers, the government? 

• From the institution to the individual — How fast and extensive will the shift to consumer-centric health care take place? 

• Incremental vs. transformational approaches — Will changes in our approach to health care happen in slow, incremental steps? Or will an event occur that causes changes to occur rapidly?