FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Karla Webb
(513) 878-2865
kwebb@gchc.org

Former Senate Majority Leader and health care policy expert Tom Daschle will be the keynote speaker at the Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati’s annual dinner set for Thursday, November 18 at the Westin in downtown Cincinnati.

Daschle is the former senate majority leader and co-author of Critical: What We Can Do About the Health-Care Crisis and the upcoming, Getting It Done: How Obama and Congress Finally Broke the Stalemate to Make Way for Health Care Reform, due for release in October. He is one of the longest serving Democratic senate leaders in history, serving as South Dakota’s senator from 1986 until 2004. Currently, he is a senior policy advisor in a private law firm. In 2007, Daschle joined with former majority leaders George Mitchell, Bob Dole and Howard Baker to create the Bipartisan Policy Center. He is a member of the Health Policy and Management Executive Council at the Harvard School of Public Health as well as a member of the Global Policy Advisory Council for the Health Worker Migration Initiative.

“Senator Daschle is a prominent figure in national health care policy reform and can bring a unique perspective on how the local health care transformation initiatives coming out of the Collaborative are driving the discussion nationally. We are extremely pleased to have him as our keynote speaker,“ said Greg Ebel, Executive Director of the Collaborative.

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield is the presenting sponsor for the 8th annual Celebration of Collaborative Leadership dinner event. In 2009, over 400 health, business and community leaders and 45 corporate sponsors participated in the event, which honors outstanding volunteers and partners for their support of the Collaborative’s initiatives and programs. For more information about sponsorships or tickets, call the Health Collaborative at 513-531-0267.

The Health Improvement Collaborative of Greater Cincinnati is dedicated to bringing people together to effectively address regional health care issues. The Collaborative assembles diverse community stakeholders … hospitals, physicians, insurers, patients, business, education, government and community members… with the goal of generating measurable, sustainable health improvement. By collaborating on tough health issues, meaningful progress is possible for the well-being of people throughout the 14 counties of Greater Cincinnati. Key initiatives include Cincinnati Aligning Forces for Quality, a partnership with the prestigious Robert Wood Johnson Foundation that focuses on lifting the quality of care in our region; and Cincinnati MD Resource Center, a program to recruit and retain an adequate physician supply for the region. The work of the Collaborative has been recognized by the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.