Health Coverage Fellowship 2005 Schedule
April 29 - May 7
Friday, April 29:
Opening reception and dinner
6:30-7:30 p.m. : Cocktail reception.
7:30-9:30 p.m. : Dinner and program.
Introduction of the Foundation and Fellowship: Andrew Dreyfus, Foundation President
Introduction of the Fellows and Keynote Speaker: Larry Tye, Fellowship Director
Keynote: Nils Bruzelius, Health-Science Editor, Washington Post
Bruzelius spent 28 years at the Boston Globe, covering medicine and science, editing coverage of those issues, and serving as foreign editor. He won a Pulitzer Prize with the Globe Spotlight Team, and was a Knight Science Fellow at MIT. Before joining the Post, he was senior editor for special projects at National Public Radio.
His talk is: “What readers really need to know: Balancing evidence, context and good play.”
Saturday, April 30:
Health Care: Clarifying the Crisis
9:15-10:30 a.m. Consumers should (and will) drive the health care system
Regina Herzlinger, a professor at Harvard Business School, has spent 25 years analyzing America’s health care system.
10:30-11:45 a.m. Spending wiser and spending more
David Cutler, a Harvard economics professor, was director of the National Economic Council under President Clinton.
11:45 a.m.-1 p.m. Looking to our medical future
Dr. Jordan Cohen, a nephrologist,is president of the Association of American Medical Colleges.
1-2:30 p.m. Lessons from the past
Dr. C. Everett Koop was US Surgeon General from 1981 to 1989, and now is senior scholar at Dartmouth’s C. Everett Koop Institute.
2:30-3:45 p.m. The AIDS epidemic – false alarms and real ones
Dr. Allan Rosenfield, an obstetrician/gynecologist, is dean of the School of Public Health at Columbia University and chairman of New York State’s AIDS Advisory Council.
4-6:30 p.m. Relax
Exercise at the fitness center. Walk around Wellesley. Bike ride. Play pool. Or just rest.
6:45 p.m. -whenever Let loose
Dinner, and music from Afro-Latin band Mango Blue, at Johnny D’s in Somerville.
Sunday, May 1:
Putting the Public Back in Health
9:15 a.m. We head into town
10-11 a.m. Birds, people and other ways of spreading disease
Dr. Al DeMaria , Massachusetts’ assistant commissioner of public health for communicable diseases, helps us understand last winter’s flu vaccine debacle, threats from avian flu, and other routes of infection.
11 a.m.-12:30 p.m. More scary scenarios
Nancy Ridley oversees the Bay State’s disaster-response program. Sandra Smole directs the biological threats program. Cheryl Gauthier runs the bio-threats response lab.
12:30-1:45 p.m. Views from the top
We meet over lunch with Paul Cote, Massachusetts’ acting commissioner of public health; Dr. David Gifford, acting chief in Rhode Island; and Dr. Robert Meenan, the Public Health School dean at Boston University, to talk about disease outbreaks, prevention programs, and other issues on our minds and theirs.
2-3:30 p.m. Press errors and how to avoid them
Dartmouth Medical School professors Dr. Lisa Schwartz and Dr. Steve Woloshin run a series of exercises on how journalists can avoid common mistakes in covering public health and other issues.
5-7 p.m. Rest up
7 p.m. -whenever Med errors and mea culpas
Over dinner, we focus on medical errors and patient safety. Dr. Rick van Pelt is an anesthesiologist at Brigham and Women’s Hospital. Linda Kenney is a leader of Consumers Advancing Patient Safety. Dr. Troyen Brennan, president of Brigham and Women’s Physicians Organization, is a pioneer of error-reduction systems.
The conversation continues in the bar/pool room.
Monday, May 2:
Gains and Gaps in Mental Health
9 a.m. We head out for a Hard Day’s Night
9:30-11:30 a.m. Young bodies, troubled souls
We visit Westborough State Hospital, meeting with young residents. Our guides are Commissioner of Mental Health Dr. Beth Childs and members of her Youth Leadership Commission.
12:15-4 p.m. A shocking solution
Marylou Sudders, former commissioner of mental health, hosts a lunch where Kitty and Michael Dukakis talk about facing her depression and addictions during his three terms as governor, run for president, and since. Joining us is Kitty’s physician, Dr. Charlie Welch, who directs the electroconvulsive therapy program at Mass. General Hospital.
Then Sudders, who runs the Massachusetts Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, leads a discussion of today’s mental health challenges. Joining her are commissioners Beth Childs of Massachusetts, Tom Kirk of Connecticut, Geoff Souther of New Hampshire, and Kathleen Spangler of Rhode Island.
5-8:30 p.m. Rest up, chow down
We have a long night ahead, so let’s rest up before dinner, which starts at 6:30. To set a context for what we will see on Boston’s streets, we are joined at dinner by Mayor Thomas Menino and Dr. Elissa Ely, a psychiatrist, columnist, and radio commentator.
9 p.m. - midnight Street stories
We divide into three groups and head to the city. One walks the streets with Pine Street workers. The second spends the evening at Pine Street’s night center with Dr. Jim O’Connell and Jill Roncarati of Boston Health Care for the Homeless. The third visits the Psychiatric Emergency Room at Cambridge Hospital.
Tuesday, May 3:
Insuring the Uninsured
8:30-9:45 a.m. Debriefing ourselves
Each group reports in on last night, as we slowly wake up.
9:45 a.m. State House bound
Blue Cross Foundation President Andrew Dreyfus briefs us on the Bay State debate over universal coverage.
10:30-11 a.m. The Senator speaks
Senate President Robert Travaglini lays out his vision.
11-11:30 a.m. The Speaker responds
House Speaker Salvatore DiMasi gives us his take the uninsured.
11:30-noon The administration weighs in
Policy chief Tim Murphy explains Gov. Mitt Romney’s plan.
12:15-1:15 p.m. A call to action
Over lunch,Partners HealthCare CEO Dr. James Mongan makes the case for public funding.
1:15-4 p.m. Building the case regionally and nationally
We look at that challenge with help from Trish Riley¸ architect of Maine’s Dirigo plan; Robert Blendon, head of Harvard’s Opinion Research Program; and Dr. Charlotte Yeh, the senior US official overseeing Medicare and Medicaid across New England.
5:30-7 p.m. Cooling down
Sally Connolly and her associates hold hands-on sessions on reiki, reflexology, yoga, pilates, and chi gong. They stay for dinner, where we are joined by Dr. David Eisenberg, head of Harvard’s Division of Complementary and Alternative Medicine.
Wednesday, May 4:
It’s All in the Delivery
8:30 a.m. We head in town
9:15 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Staying single – an anti-merger model for hospitals?
We check in at Children’s Hospital for an early morning, open-ended talk with its board.
We then split into five groups for hands-on looks at stem cell research with Dr. Leonard Zon, media-related violence with Dr. Michael Rich, anti-angiogenesis with Dr. Judah Folkman, advanced fetal care with Dr. Rusty Jennings, and robotics and other new-fangled cardiac techniques with Dr. Pedro del Nido.
At noon we meet over lunch with Chief Operating Officer Sandra Fenwick, Surgeon-in-Chief Dr. Alan Retik, and other top staff.
2-4:30 p.m. A day in the life of real medicine
Medical care is happening in interesting new settings. We divide up to tour some of them with Executive Director Dr. Steve Boswell at Fenway Community Health Center, house call team Gail Metcalf and Dr. Fadi Badlissi at Urban Medical Group, cancer researcher Robert Weinberg at the Whitehead Institute, Dr. Jordan Busch’s Personal Physicians Healthcare practice that charges patients an annual fee,and computer whiz Dr. John Halamka at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.
5-7 p.m. Tone up or take a nap
7:15 p.m. til… A low-key dinner on campus, sharing notes
We report back on our experiences in morning and afternoon break-out sessions. And we relish being by ourselves.
Thursday, May 5:
The Medical Beat: Old Dogs and New Tricks
9-10:30 a.m. Writing with accent and passion
Novelist Jill McCorkle has taught writing at Harvard and Tufts, Bennington and the University of North Carolina.
10:30-noon Seeing the story in disease
Dr. Jerome Groopman, a Harvard Medical School professor who treats cancer and AIDS patients, is an author and staff writer for the New Yorker.
12:15-1:30 p.m. Much more than a news bite
During more than 30 years on the air, ABC News Medical Editor Dr. Timothy Johnson has pioneered the health broadcast. He has written or edited three books, and is founding editor of the Harvard Medical School Health Letter.
1:45-3:15 p.m.Stories that surprise and enlighten
Few journalists are better at finding them than Bruce DeSilva, head o f the Associated Press’s News/Features Department.
3:15-4:30 p.m. Winning the big one
Globe science writer Gareth Cook just won the Pulitzer for his stories on stem cells; health/science editor Gideon Gil edited it. They walk us through the series’ conception and execution.
4:45-6:15 p.m. Sleeping it off
Take a nap. Take a walk. Do what you want.
6:30-9 p.m Let’s get technical
Dr. Jeffrey Drazen , editor-in-chief of the New England Journal of Medicine, joins us over dinner at Tartufo’s in Newton to discuss covering publications like his and medicine generally.
Friday, May 6:
Logjams in the ER, breakthroughs at Fenway
9 a.m. We head out
9:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m. What’s the rush: a diverting crisis
We look at the crunch in emergency medicine from three vantage points. A third of us ride with crews of Boston EMS chief Rich Serino. Another third go to Boston Medical Center, where Dr.Jonathan Olshaker shows us how his ER works. The rest head to Concord’s Hanscom Field, and fly with Dr.Suzanne Wedel’s Medflight teams.
1-2:30 p.m. Show and tell
We reconnoiter for lunch at the Blue Cross Foundation office at Landmark Center, sharing experiences from the morning.
2:45-4:45 p.m. Get sourced
Our guides are David Armstrong of the Wall Street Journal, an award-winning investigative writer and expert in computer-assisted reporting; Andrew Dreyfus, head of the Blue Cross Foundation and ex-executive vice president of the Massachusetts Hospital Association;and Larry Tye. Our terrain is tips on how to find things you need to cover medicine – from financial reports to error reports, data on docs to private and public health documents.
5-6 p.m. Sidelined
We look at the role medical journalists play in covering injuries on the field. Our Fenway press room panel includes Dr. Bert Zarins, team doc for the Bruins and Patriots; Dr. Arnie Scheller, doctor to the Celtics; and our host, Red Sox physician Dr. Tom Gill.
6-10 p.m. 1918, 2004 and 2005!
We tour Fenway, then watch the World Champion Sox crush the Mariners, with Dr. Alan Harvey, president of the Massachusetts Medical Society; Dr. Tom Delbanco, Koplow Professor at Harvard Medical School; Leslie Epstein, director of the Creative Writing Program at Boston University; and David Armstrong.
Saturday, May 7:
Wrapping it Up.
9 a.m.-1 p.m. The fellows on our story lists
We break into three groups, with each fellow presenting her or his list of stories while others suggest sources, approaches, and other ways to make them work. Group leaders are Boyce Rensberger, Rhonda Mann, and Larry Tye.
Rensberger, director of the Knight Science Journalism Fellowship at MIT, was a science writer or editor at the Detroit Free Press, New York Times, PBS, Science magazine and the Washington Post.
Mann is senior medical producer at WCVB-TV in Boston. She also has worked at newspapers and radio stations, and produces stories for Dr. Tim Johnson.
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