Trinity presents seminar on the “Ethics, Economics & Politics of Healthcare Rationing”

Trinity Regional Health System will present “A Delicate Balancing Act: the Ethics, Economics & Politics of Healthcare Rationing,” from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., Friday, Oct. 12, at the i wireless Center in Moline. Led by Dr. Mary Ann Baily, the daylong discussion will center around the ethical challenges surrounding caregiving when resources are limited, and what our society’s moral obligation is to ensure fairness in the distribution of health care to patients across all socio-economic backgrounds.

The conference will be presented in three parts, including “Controlling Cost is an Ethical Obligation,” “We Really Can Get Better Value For Our Money,” and “Moving Forward on Healthcare Reform.”

“Healthcare delivery isn’t always black and white, and the word ‘rationing’ has been used as a fear tactic,” said Trinity Director of Pastoral Care Bob Hansen, who also sits on Trinity's ethics committee. “This seminar is meant to explore all of the angles to gain a better understanding of the challenges in providing care and to have a neutral, meaningful discussion by attendees, not a heated political debate.”
 
Objectives include:

• Review the basic economics of rationing: what “rationing” means; why it is inevitable in health care systems; what it looks like in today’s health care system; how it is expected to change if the Affordable Care Act is successfully implemented;

• Review the basic ethics of rationing: why rationing is ethical if done in a fair manner; the ethical obligations of clinicians, health care organizations, government, and patients in developing and participating in fair rationing structures;

• Review the basic politics of rationing: how interest groups use the fear of rationing to undermine health system reform; possible strategies for countering this.

Keynote speaker Mary Ann Baily is a former staff member of The Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute in Garrison, New York. She received her Ph.D. in economics from MIT, and has been a member of the economics faculties of Yale University and George Washington University. She also worked for the President’s Commission for the Study of Ethical Problems in Medicine and helped to write the Commission's report on the ethical foundations of a societal obligation to guarantee access to basic health care. 

She served on the Institute of Medicine’s Committee on Increasing Rates of Organ Donation and has worked on various health policy issues for the U.S. Office of Technology Assessment, Health Care Financing Administration, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Red Cross, and the Committee on National Statistics of the US National Research Council. She also has served as Program Chair and Chair of the Forum on Bioethics for the American Public Health Association and has been a member of the Ethics Task Force of the Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Ms. Baily has written and lectured on issues ranging from health care rationing to the implications of HIV infection. The common thread running through her work since her time with the President’s Commission has been the moral obligation to ensure fairness in the distribution of health care and of its cost.

Cost is $50 and includes continental breakfast and lunch. Continuing education credits are available. Participants must attend the entire session. Additional sponsorship is provided by Wheelan-Pressly Funeral Homes, Trimble Funeral and Cremation Centers and Trinity Pastoral Care Department. For more information, contact (309) 779-2989.