FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards Healthcare Forum Highlights Need for Innovative Healthcare Strategies to Enhance Access, Quality of Care, and Delivery of Services
WASHINGTON, DC, September 14, 2012 – The FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards Healthcare Forum convened industry leaders, policy experts, academics and practitioners to discuss the challenges and opportunities in the U.S. healthcare sector and explore ways to accelerate innovative strategies in urban areas.
The Forum highlighted current trends and innovative approaches to tackling urban challenges in healthcare, including the importance of private-public and cross-industry collaboration and incentives to encourage prevention and wellness to improve quality of care and reduce costs. While it is important to slow the rate of healthcare spending, the speakers noted innovation should be viewed as a cost and quality solution.
“As demand for healthcare in cities continues to grow and strain existing infrastructure, we need to identify and implement solutions for the successful delivery of services,” said Fred Hessler, Managing Director, Citi Health Care Group. “Healthcare organizations that are highly integrated and have scale are more efficient, have higher operating performance, and better access to capital. As organizations seek scale and capital, consolidation is likely to continue in the industry.”
“Our urban communities face acute challenges in making accessible, affordable high-quality healthcare available to all citizens,” said Mary Grealy, President, Healthcare Leadership Council. “The ingenuity exists to elevate public health and well-being and eliminate health disparities. We need conferences like these to shape the next steps in health reform by harnessing the power of innovation.”
“Now more than ever we need a forum for innovation which can help raise awareness and support for clinicians and systems who are working in urban settings, often with misaligned incentives and many obstacles, yet collaborating to make a difference,” added Dr. Kavita Patel, Fellow, Brookings Institute and Managing Director for Clinical Transformation and Delivery, Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform.
Speakers featured at the forum included:
- Robert E. Burke, Ph.D., Gordon A. Friesen Professor of Healthcare Administration and Chair of the Department of Health Service Management and Leadership, School of Public Health, George Washington University
- Rick Curtis, President, Institute for Health Policy Solutions
- Mary Grealy, President, Healthcare Leadership Council
- Frederick A. Hessler, Health Care Sector Managing Director, Citi
- Al Hammond, Senior Entrepreneur, Ashoka
- Andrew Jack, Pharmaceuticals Correspondent, Financial Times
- D. Scott Mackesy, General Partner, Welsh, Carson, Anderson & Stowe
- Bill Mills, CEO, Citi North America
- Dr. Kavita Patel, Fellow, Brookings Institute and Managing Director for Clinical Transformation and Delivery, Engelberg Center for Health Care Reform
- T. Raj Singh, CEO, Sooqini
- Tim van Biesen, Partner, Bain & Company
- Alan Weil, Executive Director, National Academy for State Health Policy
“Urbanization continues to accelerate, increasing pressure on public and private healthcare providers to ensure communities have access to quality, affordable healthcare,” said Bill Mills, North America CEO, Citi. “At Citi, we’re helping enhance the nation’s healthcare infrastructure through innovative technology and financial solutions for clients that reduce costs, increase efficiency, and support the development and expansion of effective healthcare projects.”
The Healthcare Forum, the third in a series of conferences, is part of the FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards, a global program, sponsored by Citi, developed to recognize individuals whose solutions are fueling growth and economic progress in cities around the world.
With its global footprint built over 200 years, Citi has a unique perspective on the complexities of the urban environment. Through Citi for Cities and other initiatives, Citi works with clients and partners around the world in both the public and private sectors to enhance healthcare solutions.
About the FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards
More than half the world’s population lives in cities today, a number which is expected to rise in the decades ahead. As a result, cities have a pressing need to address the challenges of urbanisation and find solutions that modernise infrastructure, improve efficiency, enhance quality of life and foster sustainable growth and development.
The FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards: Urban Ideas in Action, a global programme sponsored by Citi was developed to recognise individuals who have developed groundbreaking solutions to urban challenges that benefit cities, citizens and urban communities in the fields of education, energy, healthcare and infrastructure.
Criteria and metrics for the Awards have been developed by INSEAD, one of the world’s leading and largest graduate business schools. All entries will be reviewed by the FT and INSEAD for qualification. The judging panel will select finalists and winners. As sponsor, Citi will not review or judge submissions.
Submissions will be reviewed based on a range of criteria, including originality, impact, efficiency and outcomes.
Category finalists will be profiled in a series of Financial Times special reports. A global winner and category winners will be announced at an awards dinner in New York City in December 2012.
For more details on the FT/Citi Ingenuity Awards, please visit http://ft-live.com/ftcitiawards.
About Citi:
Citi, the leading global bank, has approximately 200 million customer accounts and does business in more than 160 countries and jurisdictions. Citi provides consumers, corporations, governments and institutions with a broad range of financial products and services, including consumer banking and credit, corporate and investment banking, securities brokerage, transaction services, and wealth management.
Additional information may be found at www.citigroup.com | Twitter: @Citi | YouTube: www.youtube.com/citi | Blog: http://blog.citigroup.com | Facebook: www.facebook.com/citi | LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/company/citi
About Citi for Cities
Citi for Cities is an initiative that harnesses the best of Citi across the globe to enable cities to become more efficient, by providing financing that facilitates commerce and modernization, and by empowering citizens to access services that enhance livability and prosperity. Citi aims to help cities achieve their ambitions across the key ecosystems that power a city including administration, roads and transit, ports of entry, energy and utilities, workplace and education, health and safety and regeneration and development. Citi’s span of engagement with cities includes public and private sectors, the financial sector and citizens and the communities in which they live. For more information, please visit www.citiforcities.com.
