Opening Plenary
Healthcare Reform: Sustaining Biotech Innovation in a New World
October 28, 2009
12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Grand Ballroom
*Broadcasting Live From Washington, D.C.
President Obama’s commitment to passing comprehensive health reform this year has heated up Washington in 2009. The ins and outs of health reform are complex, and this panel will provide an in-depth look at health care reform – politics, policies, and impact on the biotechnology industry. Expert panelists entrenched in the debate will discuss the current political atmosphere surrounding health care reform, what policies are being deliberated, what policies are likely to be implemented as well as examine specific issues such as biosimilars and reimbursement strategies that affect the biotech industry. Audience members will have the opportunity to pose their own questions to panelists.
Moderator:
- Jim Greenwood, President and CEO, Biotechnology Industry Organization
Panelists:
- David Bowen, Ph.D, Staff Director, Health Policy, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee
- Michelle Easton, Partner, Tarplin, Downs and Young, LLC
- Rick Weissenstein, Senior Vice President, Healthcare Services Analyst, Washington Research Group
- Darren Willcox, Principal, Dutko Worldwide, Former Senior Health Advisor for Speaker Dennis Hastert
Who's Who
Michelle Easton
Michelle Easton joined the firm in 2008 bringing over 14 years of health care experience on Capitol Hill. She most recently served as the Chief Health Counsel to the United States Senate Committee on Finance Chairman Max Baucus (D-MT). Prior to joining the Finance Committee team, she served in several capacities for former Senator John Breaux (D-LA), including as Legislative Director and Staff Director for the Senate Special Committee on Aging. Michelle worked extensively on the Medicare and Medicaid programs while working in the Congress, including instrumental work on the Modernization Act (MMA). She also was a Vice President at PhRMA during the critical MMA enrollment process and coordinated efforts with third party allied groups to maximize enrollment in the Medicare prescription drug benefit. Easton comes to the firm uniquely positioned to help the firm’s clients prepare for the opportunities and challenges of major Medicare legislation and health care reform.
Jim Greenwood
Jim Greenwood is President and CEO of the Biotechnology Industry Organization (BIO) in Washington, D.C., which represents more than 1,200 biotechnology companies, academic institutions, state biotechnology centers and related organizations across the United States and in more than 30 other nations. BIO members are involved in the research and development of innovative healthcare, agricultural, industrial and environmental biotechnology products. BIO also produces the annual BIO International Convention, the world's largest gathering of the biotechnology industry, along with industry-leading investor and partnering meetings held around the world.
Since his appointment in January of 2005, he has markedly enhanced the trade association’s capacity – increasing both its staff and budget by nearly fifty percent. BIO is now a world class advocacy organization playing a leading role in shaping public policy on a variety of fronts critical to the success of the biotechnology industry at the state and national levels as well as internationally.
Mr. Greenwood represented Pennsylvania's Eighth District in the U.S. House of Representatives from January 1993 through January 2005. A senior member of the Energy and Commerce Committee, he was widely viewed as a leader on health care and the environment.
From 2001 to 2004, Mr. Greenwood served as Chairman of the Energy and Commerce Committee Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigation with oversight authority over issues in the full Committee's vast jurisdiction. He led hard-hitting investigations into corporate governance at Enron, Global Crossing and WorldCom; terrorist threats to our nation's infrastructure; and waste and fraud in federal government agencies.
Prior to his election to Congress, Mr. Greenwood served six years in the Pennsylvania General Assembly (1981-86) and six years in the Pennsylvania Senate (1987-1992).
Mr. Greenwood graduated from Dickinson College in 1973 with a BA in Sociology. From 1977 until 1980, he worked as a caseworker with abused and neglected children at the Bucks County Children and Youth Social Service Agency.
Mr. Greenwood is married with three children and resides in Upper Makefield, Pennsylvania.
Rick Weissenstein
Rick Weissenstein is a Senior Vice President covering for health care for Concept Capital’s Washington Research Group, which provides political, economic and industry research for institutional and corporate investors.
Mr. Weissenstein joined Washington Research Group in 1999 as the senior analyst responsible for analyzing health care policy issues and trends emerging in the federal and state legislative, regulatory and legal arenas and their implications for the health care industry.
Mr. Weissenstein came to Washington Research Group from Modern Healthcare Magazine. He was the Washington Bureau Chief responsible for covering Capitol Hill, the executive branch, federal courts, health care reform, reimbursement policy and regulation for the weekly magazine and daily Internet newsletter that focuses on the business of health care.
Previously, Mr. Weissenstein worked as a reporter for Advertising Age Magazine and as a certified public accountant in the Chicago office of Ernst & Young.
Mr. Weissenstein earned a bachelor’s degree in accounting at Millikin University, Decatur, Illinois, and a master’s degree in journalism at the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana.