Contact:
Alma C. Stewart
225.772.7029
alma@lahealthequity.org
LOUISIANA’S FIRST STATEWIDE HEALTH SUMMIT POISED TO IMPROVE HEALTHCARE AND HEALTH POLICY FOR CITIZENS
The Louisiana Center for Health Equity (LCHE) is hosting the statewide 2016 Health Summit: Creating an Agenda for a Healthy Louisiana from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29 at the C.B. Pennington, Jr. Building Conference Center in Baton Rouge. Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards and retired Lt. Gov. Russel Honore are among those set to join LCHE President Alma Stewart in addressing attendees. The purpose of the summit is to create a policy agenda for healthcare and to build collaborative partnerships for improving community health across Louisiana.
BATON ROUGE (March 22, 2016) – Louisiana Gov. John Bel Edwards, along with several other elected officials, policymakers, and national and state healthcare leaders, are set to convene at the 2016 Health Summit: Creating an Agenda for a Healthy Louisiana. The first-ever statewide summit, which will be held from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, March 29 at the C.B. Pennington, Jr. Building Conference Center in Baton Rouge, is designed to share vital knowledge in efforts to create a policy agenda for healthcare and to build collaborative partnerships for improving community health statewide.
The Louisiana Center for Health Equity (LCHE) and the Campaign for Healthcare for Everyone- Louisiana is hosting the summit. The daylong event will build upon regional community forums held last year by the Department of Health and Hospitals-Office of Public Health that showed health impacts on Louisiana families, businesses and workforce productivity, healthcare providers, and the wellness of residents. Through the summit, this work and the subsequent recommendations will be shared with the Statewide Healthcare Delivery Systems Study Committee (HCR 170 of 2015) to inform its work of evaluating Louisiana’s healthcare system.
The event will kick off with a ‘State of the State’ address followed by a session on the economics of health. Gov. Edwards will speak at 11 a.m. on healthcare financing and Medicaid expansion.
The Center, founded in 2010, by President Alma C. Stewart, works to address the increasing disparities in health and health care across Louisiana. The organization also represents the interest of health equity by promoting the elimination of health disparities caused by poverty, lack of access to quality health care and unhealthy environmental conditions with a focus on wellness and community health. LCHE is charged with convening a study committee to evaluate and make recommendations concerning the state’s system of healthcare, and a task force to make recommendations related to health services delivery and financing in the Baton Rouge area. In addition, the nonprofit serves as a collaborator with several other organizations to establish baseline data on access to health care in Louisiana and make recommendations concerning the health system that emphasize prevention and wellness.
The event sponsors include the Louisiana Public Health Institute, Amerigroup Louisiana, Inc., UnitedHealthcare Community Plan-Louisiana, AmeriHealth Caritas Louisiana and Pennington Biomedical Research Center.
To learn more about the summit, click here. Click here to register.
MEDIA AVAILABILITY
WHO:
Governor John Bel Edwards
Audrey Tayse Haynes, Former Secretary Cabinet for Health and Family Services, Commonwealth of Kentucky
Ms. Mary Ambrose, Senior Vice President of Community Impact, United Way of Southeast Louisiana
David J. Becker, PhD, Associate Professor, Department of Health Care Organization and Policy, School of Public Health, University of Alabama at Birmingham
Jeanie Donovan, MPA, MPH, Economic Policy Specialist, Jesuit Social Research Institute, Loyola University
Alma C. Stewart, President, Louisiana Center for Health Equity & Convener, Campaign for Healthcare for Everyone – Louisiana
WHAT: 2016 Health Summit: Creating an Agenda for a Healthy Louisiana
WHEN: 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on March 29, 2016
WHERE: C.B. Pennington, Jr. Building Conference Center
6400 Perkins Road
Baton Rouge, LA 70808
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