With its move to an almost-entirely online format this year due to COVID, the fourth annual Healthcare Economics Summit brought in some of the biggest speaker names in the event's history, as well as a record attendance.


More than 180 people registered for the July 31 summit, which was put on by Concordia University Wisconsin’s Batterman School of Business and the Remedium eXchange Think Tank. The morning portion of this year’s event focused on “Purple Solutions to Fixing Healthcare in America”—a nod to the election year. The title was inspired by Concordia Business Dean Dr. Daniel Sem’s recently launched book, “Purple Solutions: A Bipartisan Roadmap to Better Healthcare in America.”

Several of the authors who contributed chapters to Sem’s work held podium time during the Healthcare Economics Summit, including former AMA president Barbara McAneny, FDA Regulatory and Health Care Policy Strategist Anne Marie Finley, and Robert Graboyes, a recognized national expert on medical innovation. Additionally, the event drew noted healthcare innovator Dr. Steven Klasko as its keynote. Klasko annually makes Modern Healthcare’s list of the “100 Most influential People in Healthcare,” and in 2018, he tied for the No. 2 spot on the list.

The morning kicked off with remarks from the current and outgoing AMA presidents and U.S. Sen. Ron Johnson. During his address, Johnson decried the complexity of America’s current healthcare system.

“We need to simplify the problem. We have removed the discipline of a free market economy,” Johnson said during the summit. “We have separated the consumer of the product from the payment of the product; the solution lies in reconnecting the two.”

Related: Klasko and other leading experts featured at July 31 Healthcare Economics Summit

Related: National expert on medical innovation and more featured at 2019 Healthcare Economics Summit

Media Coverage

Several media outlets tuned in for the event. Click below to read Wisconsin Health News’ recap of Johnson’s address.

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