Jeff Goldsmith, Ph.D.

Biography

Jeff Goldsmith is President of Health Futures, Inc. He is also a lecturer in the Department of Medicine of the Pritzker School of Medicine at the University of Chicago. For eleven years ending in 1990, he was a lecturer in the Graduate School of Business at the University of Chicago, on health services management and policy. He has also lectured on these topics at the Harvard Business School, the Wharton School of Finance, John Hopkins, Washington University and the University of California at Berkeley. His interests include: biotechnology, international health systems, and the future of health services.

Titles

Strategic Imperatives for Hospitals and Health Systems
In March, Congress passed and President Obama signed the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010. This legislation, the most significant change in the US health system in 50 years, will fundamentally change how healthcare is financed in the US, both broadening access and restructuring both public and private health insurance. It will not only expose the federal government to significant spending increases, but also change incentives to hospitals, physicians, pharmaceutical companies, medical technology firms and everyone who supplies or supports the health system. PPACA will also strain the capacity of state and federal governments to finance healthcare in future years, compelling changes in how they pay for care. Learn how PPACA will affect the health system, and how providers, suppliers and technology firms can cope with and prosper under these changes.

Beyond Health Reform: Strategic Implications for Health Insurers and Employers
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010 complete restructures private health insurance in the US. It dramatically increases both federal and state regulation of health insurance, and exposes the plans to new political and business risks. It also increases consumer protections and choices, and potentially reduces health plan profitability and sustainability. Finally, it will introduce new competitors in health insurance markest, and new competitive dynamics. Employers will face significant challenges both in how they structure benefits and whether to continue providing health insurance at all. And they will face both penalties if their employees fail to obtain coverage, and new paperwork requirements. Learn how health reform will affect employer benefits and the factors that will affect the future of health insurance.

Health Reform: What can the US Learn from Other Countries
The United States spends almost double per capita what other countries spend on healthcare, yet produces inferior health outcomes. Why does health care cost so much more in the United States than anywhere else in the world? How do other countries finance and organize health care? What can we learn from their experience that will help the United States reshape its health system? What can other countries learn from the United States` experience?

Changing of the Guard: How the Impending Generational Transition among Physicians will Change Medicine and Health Services
The present US health system is `powered by baby boom physicians`. As these physicians gear down or retire outright, they are being replaced by younger physicians with different values, practice goals and communications styles. How will this generational transition affect medical practice, as well as hospital/physician relations? How will policymakers cope with the impending scarcity of practicing physicians as the baby boom itself enrolls in Medicare?

Healthcare and the Economic Crisis
As the US struggles to recover from the recession which began in 2008, it is clear that the health system has been profoundly affected. Not only have healthcare finances been affected by the debt crisis. Healthcare demand itself has weakened as hard pressed consumers postpone using health services. How will the unfolding economic crisis affect hospitals, physicians, health plans and healthcare technology firms? What strategic adaptations are required to weather this crisis, and anticipate the future shape of the health system?

The Fate of the Baby Boomers
A Twenty-year Look Forward at the Impact of the Baby Boom generation on the health system and society. Will they trigger a boom in the demand for health services, and in doing so, wreck our safety net programs- Medicare and Social Security? What will they need and how will we market to them? What are the plans of baby boomers, and will the U.S. economy survive their retirement?

The Consumer Revolution in Healthcare
A brief history of consumer-centric health care and its major driving forces. How will consumers leverage their access to knowledge about their own illness and about the capabilities of the health system to assume greater control over their and their family`s health?

Digital Medicine: The Future of Information Technology in Healthcare
How will modern information technology alter the role of the major actors in healthcare: consumers, health plans, hospitals, physicians and pharmaceutical firms? How will modern IT transform health services, and improve quality, productivity and health worker morale at the same time? Why has IT adoption been so slow and painful in healthcare?

Can We Afford Our Health System?
At $2.3 trillion, the U.S. Health system is the size of a large industrial nation. Is the American public getting its money`s worth? This lecture will examine why health costs have grown, the technological and demographic factors driving that growth, and argue that fundamental improvements in quality of life, particularly for old Americans, have resulted.