*Note: Meetings at Brumby Hall

Welcome and Introductions

Keynote:  John Casillas, Chair, Medical Banking Institute/Executive Director & Founder, Medical Banking Project, Franklin, TN

As medical banking convergence accelerates new roles are emerging for banks as custodians of healthcare savings accounts and health plans who offer High Deductible Health Plans. Some suggest that banks and health plans will compete in the future. Is this true? How will banks manage potential disintermediation with health plan customers?

Banks have been implementing "Straight Through Processing" in other industries but because the receivable in healthcare is so complex, creating this type of efficiency for healthcare providers has been difficult. Today, banks have focused on the "eHealth Lockbox",  a model articulated by MBProject. This new area of practice is revolutionizing how banks can streamline patient accounting functions. The panel will discuss this model and hear thoughts from providers about how the new services can be used to improve revenue cycle.

Maureen L. Turo, Chair, Education and Programming Subcommittee, Medical Banking Institute; VP, Healthcare Market Specialist, Mellon Financial Corp, Pittsburgh, PA

Scott Krah, Assistant VP & Healthcare Product Exectuive, Healthcare Solutions, Fifth Third Bank, Cincinnati, OH

Brian Kelly, Director of Finance & Business Development, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, UPMC Strategic Business Initiatives, Incline Healthcare Solutions, LLC, Pittsburgh, PA

Luke Saban, CEO, WorkingRx, Inc., Salt Lake City, UT

Co-Lecture:

Renée Juhl, PharmD, FASCP, Sr. Director, Regional Medical & Research Specialist, Global Medical, Pfizer Inc., New York, NY

Financial institutions are delivering health and wellness information alongside plans and employers?  Managing healthcare dollars as well as directly supplying health and wellness tools to banking customers to support a packaged effort to own customers (and their savings accounts) for life--banks are assuming the mantle of healthcare information brokers. It's an industry transformation that shouldn't be taken lightly.  This discussion will address a transformation in the industry and how the industry is engaging the consumer with various tools and communication methods.

The Health Record Bank is a relatively new idea in healthcare. The formation of banks that store consumer healthcare records was a concept that was first generally introduced by IBM at the Almadean Institute in San Jose, CA. While initial reaction was mixed the idea has gained traction. The Independent Health Record Bank Act of 2006  was introduced in the House and Senate (two versions) and gained sponsors (Senator Sam Brownback, R-KS; Congressman Paul Ryan, R-WI) who may reintroduce the bill in 2007. We will examine the HRB, why its making waves in healthcare IT circles and how it relates to the new field of Medical Banking. We will hear arguments surrounding the RHIO vs. HRB debate from prominent authorities.

Moderator:   John Casillas, Chair, Medical Banking Institute; Executive Director, Medical Banking Project, Franklin, TN

William A. Yasnoff, MD, PhD, Founder, Health Record Bank Alliance; Managing Partner, NHII Advisors,

Arlington, VA

Isaac S. Kohane, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics and Health Sciences and Technology, Director, Children's Hospital Informatics Program, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA

The National Governors Association (NGA) was contracted by ONCHIT to provide advisory services for Health Information Exchange (HIEs) work that is occurring in all the 50 states (click here for more info). This could help to build out a national program that links HIEs in our national quest to implement a digital eHealth environment. Historically, banks have not been part of this important dialogue. MBProject spoke with NGA about this and they agreed to advance a cross-industry dialogue at the Institute. The Senior Advisor for NGA will provide a view of what they are doing and how banking groups could help to speed adoption of a national HIE.

Banking engagement in healthcare is broad yet one of the fastest growing segments in medical banking is the eHealth Lockbox. This area links cash management systems directly with patient accounting systems to dramatically increase back office efficiency. We will hear how one bank has integrated both payment and non-payment health data transactional information onto one platform. The benefits of this model will be examined using a Case Study that shows how the model is being implemented by providers (resulting in a $4 million annual savings in operating costs). We will also frame the market, in terms of where it is today and what the future prospects are for the eHealth Lockbox.

A critical path issue in electronic healthcare in general is privacy and confidentiality. As databases with personal healthcare information go online for on-demand access, a key concern among consumers, privacy groups and the state and federal governments is ensuring identity management and privacy in evolving eHealth systems. As banks engage in this are privacy, confidentiality, authentication and other related areas will continue to surface in importance. The session will provide policy updates from ONCHIT, the federal arm that coordinates the implementation of health information technology in America, around privacy, IT adoption and other issues.

Applied Materials, BP, Cardinal Health, Intel, Pitney-Bowes and Walmart joined forces to implement a new Personal Healthcare Record to some 2.5 million employees, hoping that this will provide a tipping point for other employer efforts. The program is being reviewed by MBProject to adapt to its model for bank-driven electronic healthcare. A PHR is simply one component for banks that want to engage the emerging eHealth digital ecosystem. A member of the Dossia Board of Directors will provide an overview.

Lecture:   David Hom, VP, Human Resources, Strategic Initiatives, Pitney Bowes Inc, Stamford, CT

Over 1200 financial institutions are now offering some type of CDH account, with varying levels of functionality and integration to the health plans. Early entrants to market often either manipulated current systems to force fit for health, or selected a plug and play solution, outsourcing virtually every function - even those within their core banking competency. With increased volumes and market requirements for flexibility, many banks are finding their original solutions are too costly, not scalable or difficult to differentiate from others. BearingPoint will provide insights gleaned from market experience that address this issue.

Moderator: B.P. Fulmer, Executive Director, Commercial EDI Services, ACS; President, Medical Banking Institute

Dean Mason, President, UnitedHealthcare/Exante Bank, Minnetonka, MN

Kimberly Darling, Founder & President, Competitive Health, Mission Viejo, CA

Lecture: 

Banks are starting to invest in healthcare IT and thus have an interest in the policy issues that are relevant to these types of investments. Scott Wallace is a "fixture" in healthcare IT policy formation. His organization has a long term interest in improving healthcare using technology. The session will provide a seasoned view of where we are and where we need to go to build out a digital ecosystem in healthcare.

Scott Wallace, President & CEO, National Alliance for Healthcare InformationTechnology; Chair, Commission on Systemic Interoperability, Dept of Health & Human Services, Washington, DC

Reggie Van Lee, Sr. VP, Booz Allen Hamilton, McLean, VA

As remittance management systems specialize in the treasury/cash management areas of the bank, a new area of focus is "funding" of the healthcare receivable (financing, factoring and securitization). Yet how to do this with healthcare receivable remains illusive due to the complexity of the reimbursement environment. The diversity of receivable types, complexities associated with regulations impacting how to perfect and/or transfer healthcare receivables under lending contracts, the double lockbox and more, creates a complex matrix for creating better liquidity in healthcare. The session will examine new models, some used by banks and others that are employer-based, that are unlocking liquidity. We will also examine valuation, processing and compliance issues that can fuel better healthcare credit practices.

Moderator:   Devika Kumar, Associate VP, Revenue Cycle Services, QHR, Brentwood, TN

Paul G. Chicos, President & CEO, E-Duction, Blue Bell, PA

A description of the industry problem being solved and how the Use Case is being positioned as a open standard/solution. We will hear from the sponsors of the Use Case (Exante Bank/United Healthcare), provider groups and banks about the critical industry challenges and how the standard could be applied to resolve real time pricing at point of service issues. Systemic issues, technology issues and other problem areas will be presented and discussed.

Workgroup Leader:  David Harris, National Healthcare Revenue Cycle Partner, PricewaterhouseCoopers, New York, NY

The Medical Banking segment has grown to include six emerging areas of practice. This medical banking "boot camp" session will start with the basics and march up to some of the latest thinking on how banks can dramatically improve global healthcare. This is an excellent primer by the founder of MBProject, who pioneered original thinking in this complex but dynamic industry segment.

Lecture:  Michael L. Nelson, DPM, Director of Business Development, Health Market Science, King of Prussia, PA

The HSA Accumulator Use Case has divided members into 4 workstreams with specific tasks, including Software, Standards, Internet, Payment Networks. The Project Leader and Workstream Leaders will present after which we will have an interactive Q&A session with the audience. We will focus on isolating and documenting business level requirements for creating an open standard.

A key area of practice in medical banking is focused on ramping community healthcare assets onto an efficient processing platform. By doing so, better coordination of existing healthcare resources will result, as well as potentially reaching the unbanked and underserved through new programs. The session will review emerging platforms and the current landscape for change, and how to leverage it for better healthcare at the community level. We will hear about the Communities Building Access Act, endorsed by a string of prominent healthcare organizations, and initiate a dialogue with congressional staffers about how banks can assist in community.

A panel discussion between venture capital and private equity firms who are actively investing in medical banking. We will review the emerging models in the healthcare and banking convergence areas and gain insight from money sources about what types of investments are most likely to succeed.

The United Nations created a formal draft for creating a global alert system in the event of a pandemic influenza outbreak. The plan, ratified at the G6 Summit this year, is now being implemented around the world. A key stakeholder in this area is the commercial banking community. According to industry experts, an outbreak could result in many billions in productivity loss in the United States alone. The Unified Platform Initiative at the Medical Banking Project is working on a platform that can help to solve issues emerging from man-made and natural disasters. The platform links financial, healthcare and homeland security elements. The session will isolate business issues relative to a pandemic outbreak and inform the design of a "Medical Banking Information Sharing and Analysis Center - MB-ISAC".

John W. Lindquist, President & CEO, EWA Information & Infrastructure Technologies, Inc., Herndon , VA