The second symposium of a three-year series on health care policy and law in Arkansas will be held at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock William H. Bowen School of Law Friday, Oct. 20. 

This year’s Health Care Policy and the Law Symposium will focus on the cost of health care in Arkansas. Speakers will include local and national health care professionals and policy makers who will discuss factors that drive the cost of health care in the state.

These topics include health care payment reform and how socioeconomic factors like income and county of residence affect a person’s health care and health behaviors. The symposium will also cover the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Medical-Legal Partnership, where health care and legal professionals work together to promote a healthy population.

“Bowen is excited to host this second symposium focusing on addressing Arkansas’ significant health care challenges, many of which do not lend themselves to easy answers,” said John DiPippa, dean of Bowen School of Law. “We believe that our second topic, the cost of health care in Arkansas, will demonstrate the opportunities possible when we collaboratively look for solutions.”

The keynote speaker is Michael Chernew, the Leonard D. Schaeffer Professor of Health Care Policy and the director of the Healthcare Markets and Regulation Lab in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School. His speech is entitled, “Payment Reform: Evidence and Future Directions.”  

Featured speakers include Gov. Asa Hutchinson and Vic Snyder, former Arkansas state senator and U.S. congressman.

“By bringing together some of the most sophisticated health care and legal thinkers in the state as well as experts from elsewhere in the country, we hope to promote an informed discussion and to serve as a source of information and ideas for Arkansas’ policymakers,” DiPippa said.

Additional speakers include:

•      Joseph Bates, senior public health advisor for the Arkansas Department of Health
•      Lori Chumbler, senior associate counsel for Walmart on the employment legal team
•      Marcy Doderer, president and chief executive officer of Arkansas Children’s Hospital
•      Mary Claire Hyatt, staff attorney with Legal Aid of Arkansas working with the Arkansas Children’s Hospital Medical-Legal Partnership
•      Judge Mary Spencer McGowan
•      Josh Rosenthal, co-founder and chief scientific officer of RowdMap, Inc.
•      Anna Strong, executive director of child advocacy and public health at Arkansas Children’s Hospital
•      John Tilford, professor and chair of the Department of Health Policy and Management at the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences

The symposium series, sponsored by Blue Cross Blue Shield, is designed to foster thoughtful, intellectual debate about health care issues in Arkansas. The goal is to promote informed policy making and to establish a platform for generating research projects. The event is also sponsored by University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences and Clinton School of Public Service.

Attorneys, physicians, pharmacists, and nurses have the opportunity to earn professional development credits through the conference.

Registration is $20 online. Students may attend the event for free. Lunch and snacks will be provided. For more information, call 501.324.9973 or email tmmedlock@ualr.edu.