Nov. 19, 2009

VCU hosts 'Health Care Reform: Four Unique Perspectives'

Program designed to enhance the quality of the health care reform debate

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By Mike Porter

From left: Larry I. Palmer, LL.B, director, Health Policy and Law Initiative and professor, Department of Health Administration, VCU’s College of Allied Health Professions; Marian Moser Jones, Ph.D., assistant professor, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and member of the Science, Technology and Society initiative; Carl F. Ameringer, Ph.D., professor of health policy and politics, VCU’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs; Jennifer M. Mellor, Ph.D., director of the Schroeder Center for Health Policy and associate professor of economics, College of William and Mary and Rick Mayes, Ph.D., professor of political science, University of Richmond, share their perspectives on health care reform.
From left: Larry I. Palmer, LL.B, director, Health Policy and Law Initiative and professor, Department of Health Administration, VCU’s College of Allied Health Professions; Marian Moser Jones, Ph.D., assistant professor, L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and member of the Science, Technology and Society initiative; Carl F. Ameringer, Ph.D., professor of health policy and politics, VCU’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs; Jennifer M. Mellor, Ph.D., director of the Schroeder Center for Health Policy and associate professor of economics, College of William and Mary and Rick Mayes, Ph.D., professor of political science, University of Richmond, share their perspectives on health care reform.

Virginia Commonwealth University’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and the Science, Technology and Society initiative sponsored a discussion about health care reform, examining the issue from political science, public health, economic and legal perspectives.

“Health Care Reform: From Four Unique Perspectives” took place Nov. 18, attracted a large crowd to Younger Auditorium at the VCU School of Nursing.

Carl F. Ameringer, Ph.D., professor of health policy and politics, VCU’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs, organized the program.

“Health care reform is an important topic and I wanted to enhance the quality of the debate and provide more dimensions to the discussion,” Ameringer said. “In addition, I wanted to draw together the two campuses of VCU and bring together the region’s academic community.” 

Ameringer, who has more than 20 years of experience in the health care industry as a practitioner and academic, moderated the discussion.

“Our speakers represented different disciplines that offer a unique way of approaching and analyzing health care reform,” Ameringer said. “They explained how they go about it, the tools they use and the theories that apply from their unique perspective, giving the audience a broader understanding of health policy.”

The speakers represented various ways to perspectives to look at health care reform, such as economic, legal and historical.

Ameringer said the program is just a starting point in what he hopes will become an ongoing dialogue about health care reform.

“I’d love to see people from different backgrounds come together again next semester or next year,” Ameringer said.

Serving as speakers were: Rick Mayes, Ph.D., professor of political science, University of Richmond; Marian Moser Jones, Ph.D., assistant professor,  L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs and member of the Science, Technology and Society initiative; Jennifer M. Mellor, Ph.D., director of the Schroeder Center for Health Policy and associate professor of economics, College of William and Mary; and Larry I. Palmer, LL.B, director, Health Policy and Law Initiative and professor, Department of Health Administration, VCU’s College of Allied Health Professions.