The newly launched Health Economists and Academic Leaders (HEAL) Network hosted our inaugural Washington Health Economics Symposium in Washington, DC on October 7th-8th.
This two-day symposium provided a national forum for health economists and academics from across the country to present new research and share ideas among colleagues. This year, scholars presented papers on three topics: Incentives for Research & Development; Access to Medical Innovations; and Financing Health for Cures.
HEAL’s Founding Director Steve Parente kicked off the symposium by outlining the need for a renewed effort to bring sound, market-based ideas and research to decisionmakers working to improve healthcare policy. In his recent op-ed at RealClear Health, “A New Prescription for a Stronger, Healthier Nation,” Parente reviewed the state of healthcare policy in the United States and reflected on lessons learned from his service in government that inspired him to launch the HEAL Network. Parente has now worked to advanced healthcare policy reforms for more than two decades in a variety of roles including as Chief Economist for Health Policy on the Council of Economic Advisers at the White House, Senior Adviser to the Secretary for Health Economics in the Department of Health and Human Services, Adviser to the Congressional Budget Office, and most recently as the President-Elect of the American Society of Health Economists.
Day One of the Symposium kicked off with an event at the U.S. Capitol where attendees included both House and Senate staffers who heard from paper authors addressing “The Opportunities” for healthcare reform. Topics included:
- the implications of the IRA for cancer medicine development,
- public/private collaborations to finance transformative cures in the employer sponsored healthcare sector,
- spillover effects of hospital merges on costs and utilization,
- IRA and drug development – early signals of impact on post approval clinical trials,
- the impact of standardized disease-specific healthcare coverage.
Day Two of the Symposium, hosted at the Morning Consult’s headquarters, allowed for continued conversation and provided the authors and attendees an opportunity to address the practical “Implementation and Impact” of the ideas presented in the research papers.
Joining the authors as panelists were former Chief Economist of the President’s Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) and now president at the American Action Forum Doug Holtz-Eakin as well as Theo Merkel, Director of the Private Health Reform Initiative and a Senior Research Fellow at the Paragon Health Institute and the Manhattan Institute. Also in attendance was former HHS Deputy Secretary Eric Hargan who provided his insights on the impact and consequences of price controls on prescription drugs implemented by the Inflation Reduction Act.
Speakers and participants included individuals from the following academic institutions:
- Brown University
- University of California, Berkeley
- University of Illinois
- University of Miami
- University of Minnesota
- Virginia Commonwealth University
To learn more about the HEAL Network and join our growing community, visit our website, follow us on X, check out our one-pager, or send us an email at info@thehealnetwork.org.