The question was a welcome one, given the heated, exhausting health care debate that has raged through the summer: On the day after health care reform (whatever form it takes), what are the potential stumbling blocks and opportunities?

That’s how moderator Michele Norris (of NPR’s All Things Considered) thoughtfully began the panel at the University of Chicago-curated “Chicago Contributes” health care forum, held Thursday in Washington, DC less than a day after President Barack Obama’s speech to Congress. Reform supporters might consider that question to be a jinx as Obama and the Democrats struggle to find a consensus plan, but it allowed the forum’s panelists to clear the political fog and put the focus back where it should be - on the challenging questions of access and cost reduction that face modern American medicine.

After a keynote address by Kathleen Sebelius, Obama’s Secretary of Health and Human Services, echoed many of the points the President made himself the night before, the stage was turned over to a national group of university experts that were grappling with these issues long before health care became the season’s political hot potato. The importance of access to health care, not just insurance, was summarized nicely (and immediately) by Gerard Clancy, Dean of the University of Oklahoma-Tulsa College of Medicine: “If we have 40-50 million people now with health care coverage, who’s going to take care of them?”

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Last night, President Barack Obama addressed Congress about the need for health care reform, and today the University of Chicago is presenting a timely forum in Washington, DC, on the subject of access to health care. With a keynote address from Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius and a panel that includes several health care policy experts, the event promises to be a interesting discussion of how universities are participating in the current national health care conversation. In cooperation with the UofC News Office, we’ll be running a live-stream of the event from 12 noon Chicago time, along with live, updating commentary from blog editor Jeremy Manier and Medical Center communications director John Easton at the forum, and Rob Mitchum, who will be watching the stream with you. Below the video feed and live blog you can find the agenda and the participants in the health care forum, or you can read more about the Chicago Contributes event (which will also feature an education forum following the health care discussion) here:

Keynote: Kathleen Sebelius, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Secretary
Panel: “Access After Health Care Reform”
Moderator: Michele Norris, Host of NPR’s All Things Considered

Panelists:

• Eric Whitaker
  • Executive VP, Strategic Affiliations, and Associate Dean of Community-based Research at the University of Chicago Medical Center
• Pedro Jose Greer
  • Assistant Dean of Academic Affairs and Chair of the Department of Humanities, Health and Society, Florida International University School of Medicine
• Gerard Clancy
  • President, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa, and Dean, University of Oklahoma-Tulsa College of Medicine
• Kavita Patel
  • Director of Policy of the White House Office of Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs
• Patrick Soon-Shiong, M.D.
  • Executive Chairman & CEO, Abraxis Health, and Executive Director, UCLA Wireless Health Institute, University of California, Los Angeles

This was a great idea [NOTE: The link no longer brings up the forum; see below]. Just browsing through the sessions, it’s a very high quality discussion, with a lot of focus on improving preventive care - a huge issue in underserved areas.

UPDATE: The streaming video is no longer up, but the White House blog thread on the forum is here.  There should be a summary report out soon, and I’m sure people here will comment on the process as it goes along. See more coverage here, here and here.

An interesting nugget from the community discussions the administration has held on health care reform: One-fifth of participants cited the lack of emphasis on prevention as a top concern, even more than were concerned about the quality of care.