“He leaves the programs in a fabulous strategic position,” McAnally explains. “Our brand is strong due in no small part to his building and leading a dedicated team over the past few years.”

McAnally

McAnally looks forward to making her own mark on the graduate programs. “My chief priority is to continue to improve our suite of MBA programs: to innovate, expand, and respond to opportunities. We will launch the Professional MBA program in the fall of 2012, and much of my efforts in the coming months will focus on attracting top-notch students.”

McAnally teaches financial accounting in the Full-Time MBA, Executive MBA and Executive Education programs at Mays. She has taught at business schools in Canada, Austria and India. She has received numerous faculty-determined and student-initiated teaching awards at both Texas A&M and UT.

Dean Jerry Strawser says, “Mary Lea will be a dynamic addition to our school’s leadership team. She works closely with our Full-Time MBA and Executive MBA students and is one of the few faculty who have received teaching awards from both groups. She will build on the outstanding work of Dave Blackwell and move our already strong programs to the next level.”

McAnally is the Carol and David Van Houten Professor of Accounting at Mays and a former Chartered Accountant (Canada) and Certified Internal Auditor with experience in public practice and industry. Prior to arriving at Texas A&M, McAnally held positions at University of Texas at Austin, Canadian National Railways, and Dunwoody and Company.

Her research interests include accounting and disclosure in regulated environments, and accounting for risk. She has published articles in the leading academic journals including Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review and Contemporary Accounting Research. She has coauthored three textbooks and a casebook, all published by Cambridge Business Publishers.

She received her doctorate from Stanford University in 1994 and a bachelor’s in commerce from University of Alberta in 1982.

This year, the program is ranked 10th among public programs in the nation, rising one spot from its 11th rank in 2010. Among all U.S. programs, the A&M Executive MBA rose two places to tie for 27th. Globally, the program climbed eight spots to tie for 54th in the world, up from last year’s rank of 62nd.

The program continues to improve as it enters its 13th year, says David Blackwell, associate dean for graduate programs at Mays Business School. “Our strong rise in the global rankings and breaking into the top 10 EMBA programs at U.S. public universities reflects the great work of our faculty in delivering cutting-edge content, our staff in providing top notch service and a seamless experience, and the strong accomplishments of our graduates,” he says.

To determine its rankings, London-based Financial Times surveyed thousands of Executive MBA alumni from more than 100 of the top programs in the world. Blackwell says the feedback from alumni is an authentic source of information, and that at Mays, the graduates help keep the program relevant and progressive. “The program teaches our students how to create value in their organizations. The many contributions of our EMBA graduates to the Houston business community ensures that we will continue to be able to attract a strong group of executives to the program.”

In Fall 2012, the Executive MBA program will move from its location in The Woodlands north of Houston to a new, private facility at CITYCENTRE, a mixed-use urban development in west Houston. The custom-finished facility will also be the home of A&M’s new Professional MBA program, which targets professionals with two to 10 years of work experience.

For more information about the EMBA or PMBA programs, visit emba.tamu.edu or pmba.tamu.edu.

“Our new program is designed to help young professionals propel their careers into high gear. We developed this program in response to demand for Mays to increase our offerings in the Houston market,” says Jerry Strawser, dean of Mays Business School at Texas A&M University.

The Professional MBA Program will be housed at a new, private facilty at CITYCENTRE in Houston which will open in fall 2012.

Launching in fall 2012, the two-year Professional MBA program will target participants with two to 10 years of work experience. Students will be taught by full-time faculty from Texas A&M’s Mays Business School in classes held Friday evening and all day Saturday of alternating weekends. Classes will begin in August 2012, and will be spread over 22 months. This program format allows students to earn the MBA degree while maintaining full-time employment.

“We are bringing our best to Houston — giving our students access to top faculty from Mays,” says Strawser. “We know this investment in our students will provide a great return in both the quality of education they receive and the value they bring back to their employers.”

The new program will be offered in a new, private facility at CITYCENTRE, a mixed-use urban development conveniently located off Interstate 10 and Beltway 8 in West Houston. The custom-finished facility will open in fall 2012, and will also be the new home of A&M’s Executive MBA program, which targets professionals with at least 10 years of experience. The Executive MBA program, which is in its 13th year of operations, will be moving from its current location in The Woodlands, just north of Houston.

“The new location will mean an easier commute to our programs for most Houstonians.” says Strawser. “CITYCENTRE is on the leading edge of growth, with close proximity to the energy corridor and ease of access from major Houston business districts.”

The Professional MBA curriculum will be patterned after the Executive MBA at Mays — a two-year program focused on educating participants to create value in organizations.

CITYCENTRE is a mixed-use urban development conveniently located off Interstate 10 and Beltway 8 in West Houston.

Strawser is confident this new program will build on the history of success of the Executive MBA program. “Our Professional MBA program will continue the tradition of our Executive MBA program in educating the next generation of Texas’ business leaders,” he said.

With this new program, the network of Mays MBA graduates will continue to grow and the build upon the international power of the Texas A&M University “Aggie Network.”

“Texas A&M’s presence in Houston has always been strong, given the close proximity of our main campus and a large number of students living in the area,” says R. Bowen Loftin, Texas A&M University’s president. “We are excited to expand our opportunity to provide exceptional business education to the Houston community, while also maintaining a first-class, permanent home for Texas A&M in one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country.”

The application for fall 2012 admission to the Professional MBA program from Mays Business School at Texas A&M University is available now. To learn more, visit pmba.tamu.edu.

At Disaster City are (left to right) Executive MBA Program Director Julie A. Orzabal, TEEX Deputy Director Sue Shahan, Associate Dean for Graduate Programs David Blackwell and TEEX Director and CEO Gary Sera.

Over the last four years, students from Texas A&M’s MBA and Executive MBA programs have participated in the Disaster City challenge events at the 52-acre TEEX Disaster City training facility. This experience is a leadership and team-building exercise that teaches crisis communications and creative problem solving – soft skills essential for top business leaders. During the exercise, students are divided into teams to complete tasks such as rescuing “victims” from a train wreck, a high-speed GPS scavenger hunt, and a “slab drag,” moving a 1,200-pound block of concrete with team effort and pulleys. They also practice responding to the media and other external audiences during a crisis.

For Mays, this partnership provides MBA students the unique opportunity to develop their skills in a physically challenging, high-stress environment. The lessons from exercises will translate into how they work together in their teams, how they communicate, and how they lead their organizations. “The experience at Disaster City provides something we can’t duplicate within the walls of our classrooms: a physical, tangible test of problem-solving and decision-making skills,” says David Blackwell, associate dean of graduate programs at Mays Business School. “We are fortunate to have access to this facility so near our main campus.”

The partnership allows TEEX to invest in the professional development of top employees, and increase the business acumen of their leadership team.

About Mays Business School

The Executive MBA Program, offered by Mays Business School at Texas A&M University is a two-year MBA program for business professionals with classes held every other weekend in The Woodlands, Texas. The school’s Full-Time MBA Program is a 16-month program offered in College Station on the Texas A&M University campus, and is frequently ranked among the top 10 public business programs in the nation.

About Disaster City

Disaster City®, Texas, is a 52-acre training facility that delivers a full array of skills and techniques needed by today’s emergency response professionals. The mock community features full-scale, collapsible structures designed to simulate various levels of disaster and wreckage. The training possibilities are nearly endless and can be customized for the specific needs of any group. Emergency responders worldwide, from the United Kingdom to Japan and from Taiwan to South America, venture to Disaster City for unparalleled search and rescue training and exercises. Simply put, Disaster City is the most comprehensive emergency response training facility available today. Disaster City is part of the Texas Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) Emergency Preparedness Campus located in College Staton, Texas. TEEX is one of seven state agencies, nine universities and the Health Science Center that comprise The Texas A&M University System.

The inaugural Mays Business School Summer Learning Seminar could not have gone more smoothly, says David W. Blackwell, associate dean for graduate programs and event coordinator. “Feedback from the participants was outstanding, and the presenters felt heard and understood. There were a lot of great questions and comments from the audience,” Blackwell recalls.

Professor Asghar Zardkoohi talks about human resources to attendees at the 2011 Mays Summer Learning Seminar. (view more photos)

Keynote presentations included “The Economic Outlook for Investors and Business Decision Makers” by Mark Dotzour, chief economist and research director of the Real Estate Center, and “Domestic and Global Economies and the Implications for Human Resources” by Asghar Zardkoohi, the T.J. Barlow Professor of Management. Other presentations ranged from demystifying the Federal Reserve to props for PowerPoint.

Dotzour interpreted the economic outlook for consumers, business and government, and cited a federal debt of $43 trillion in unfunded liability for Social Security and Medicare. He said consumers are “cleaning up their balance sheets,” paying down debt and spending money again, and the business sector has “right-sized their balance sheet and is sitting on $2 trillion in cash.” The government sector, however, has postponed correction – at enormous expense to the American taxpayers, Dotzour explains. The 10-year U.S. Treasury is not signaling inflation, Dotzour says. Instead, he predicts, “the bigger threat to the U.S. economy is another wave of deflation.”

“This is not playing Barbies. It’s not fun or pleasant,” he said. “If you are not afraid of what’s going on in America right now, you are either not informed or you are pretending things aren’t the way they are.”

Several people from throughout the surrounding community attended the seminar. Sallye Lucas, who makes investments for the city of Bryan, said she came mainly to hear Dotzour speak. “He always has the latest information, and he presents it in a way anyone can understand,” she said.

Jackson Lane ’13, a finance major, says the program will be “an integral part of my future success,” and solidified his desire to be part of MBA/EMBA events. “It was a great opportunity for industry professionals, undergraduate and graduate students to see the best of what Mays has to offer,” he explains.

Craig Hooker, a prospective MBA student who attended the lunch and afternoon session, says he appreciated being involved in the Summer Learning Seminar while he was on campus for the MBA program’s Super Saturday event, an orientation for accepted MBA students that allowed them to meet their prospective professors. “I was able to make several deeper connections with former, future and current students I had met during the day,” he says

Liping Chen, an engineer with the Integrated Ocean Drilling Program at Texas A&M who has helped judge the MBA technology transfer program, considers the program a “great learning opportunity – not only learning from the informative seminars by well-known professors, but also learning from participants networking.”

“The seminars covered a broad business aspects, from practical – using Power Point in business – to a global perspective of business environment, provided a vision that any successful business should possess, pointed out the challenges and chances we are all facing,” Chen says. “I also learned from my fellow participants during breaks and the reception, and it was valuable to listen to the experience from a diverse group. I especially enjoyed the brief visit with some of the distinguished alumni.”

Bob Hancock ’82, a CPA at a Houston bank who got his bachelor’s degree from the business school, said he welcomed the opportunity to stay connected and to continue his personal education. “I couldn’t pass up the opportunity to network and to hear about the current news in the business world,” he said. “It’s important to stay connected.”

Notes from the program are posted at mays.tamu.edu/sls2011 and photos from the event are available on the Mays Flickr site.

The Full-time MBA and Executive MBA programs provide experiential learning opportunities, including Washington Campus, a four-day consortium that provides residential seminars on the business-government interface. Through an inside-the-beltway interface with political leaders and policy experts, participants begin to understand the dynamics between business and public policy.

During a recent course in Washington, D.C., themed “Business and the Public Policy Process: How Washington Works,” members of Mays Executive MBA Class XII heard from U.S. Rep. Bill Flores ’76, who represents the area where Texas A&M is located.

Jim Griffin (right), director of the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics and Public Policy, speaks at the Nov. 1 discussion panel hosted by the institute and Mays Business School.

These were some of the topics discussed at a recent event hosted by the Full-Time and Executive MBA Programs at Mays and the Mosbacher Institute for Trade, Economics and Public Policy at the Bush School of Government and Public Service. The panel discussion, titled “The Future of Energy: Unraveling the economic impacts of energy policy,” was held on November 1, and featured experts from industry and academia.

More than 300 professionals attended the event. Seating was limited. If you missed out on attending the event live, you can still hear what the experts had to say. Videos for the event are available at mays.tamu.edu/energy.

The 2010 rankings place the executive MBA program at A&M 11th in the nation among programs offered in the U.S. by public universities (29th among all U.S. schools, public and private), and 62nd globally.

This is an improvement over the last time the program was included in these rankings in 2007. At that time, the program was 16th among public U.S. programs and 66th globally.

The program was also ranked 2nd in the category of work experience among U.S. public schools (6th overall). Globally, they are ranked 17th in that field. The most recently admitted class of executive MBA students at Mays averages 17 years of work experience.

The Financial Times considers faculty research quality and quantity metrics in its rankings. A&M ranked 31st globally in terms of research productivity, based on appearances of Mays faculty members in 45 leading journals across all disciplines.

“We manage our program to produce business leaders, not rankings. Nonetheless, I am very happy when we receive independent recognition of our efforts and results,” said David Blackwell, associate dean for graduate programs, and RepublicBank/James W. Aston Professor of Finance.

From creating cost-saving systems to developing new growth strategies, students in the Texas A&M Executive MBA Program at Mays must use their business knowledge and leadership skills to tackle an important challenge facing their organization. This effort, their Capstone Project, creates solutions for a real problem, giving immediate application to their classroom learning—and creating value for the individual students, their companies, and their customers.

In fact, The Wall Street Journal recently ranked the A&M Executive MBA Program first in the nation for precisely this sort of experience: when examining factors such as raises received after graduation, company-sponsorship figures, tuition, and out-of-pocket costs, the program was ranked number one for individual return on investment. This program is a point of differentiation for Mays, most executive MBA programs don’t incorporate participants’ professional work into an individualized curriculum.

Below are some of the most interesting and impactful Capstone Projects to come out of the EMBA Class X, which graduated in May 2010. Their work will save millions of dollars and create more efficient organizations that will grow the economy. You don’t have to be considering an executive MBA to learn something from their experiences, too.

Shawn Corkran

Director, Transmission and Distribution Operations, Entergy Texas, Inc.; Beaumont, Texas

Hurricane winds blow, ripping off roofs and siding, shattering windows, relocating trees and trashcans, and downing power lines. When the storm is over, the vital work of restoration begins. Key to the recovery is turning the power back on—a job that customers expect to have completed very quickly. A job that requires a huge investment of manpower.

Shawn Corkman developed a model to optimize Entergy’s decisions for supporting emergency operations.

For a business utility company with approximately 500-1,000 employees, the restoration process after a catastrophe can temporarily swell their ranks to more than 10,000-15,000. Acquiring the additional workers from contractor companies and other utility companies, then providing for them logistically (equipment, housing, food) in a storm-damaged area is a huge resource management and supply chain challenge.

As a longtime Gulf Coast resident and Entergy employee, Shawn Corkran knows how vital timely response to natural disasters is. The focus of his EMBA Capstone Project was improving Entergy’s ability to bring in thousands of new employees and put them to work as quickly as possible. Applying what he learned in operations management, Shawn developed a model to optimize Entergy’s decisions regarding crew deployment, housing, and meals. After many hours spent building and validating the model, Shawn’s work resulted in his promotion to director of operations.

When he presented his project to his storm team at Entergy, his ideas were enthusiastically embraced. Shawn expects that his proposal, which includes the creation of a new resource management model, will be applied in the near future.

“My storm team loves this,” he says of the new model. “It allows us to take people who are under a lot of stress and a lot of duress, and make good decisions on behalf of everybody.”

Sara Bucaram

Brand Manager for Services Marketing department, Dell; Dallas, Texas

“Many hands make light work,” says the proverb—but how many hands are needed depends on the job. For her Capstone Project, Sara Bucaram evaluated her team of IT professionals at Perot Systems, delving into the daily details of their work to create a scalable model so that as customer volume grew, the appropriate number of staff would be added.

Her ambition was not micromanaging her employees, but rather understanding the demands of the position so that each team within Perot was right-sized for the workload of a particular client. Sara measured and analyzed the time spent on each IT request, the number of requests each employee handled per month, and the customer feedback. She says it was enlightening to turn over every rock and analyze specific components of the employees’ days.

When all of the data was collected, Sara determined that each team member should be able to respond to about 200 requests per month. Using this and other variables, she developed a model that could forecast staffing adjustments based on a client’s growth rate.

After her Capstone Project, Sara says there is great value for managers in any kind of business to closely examine the output delivered by a team of employees. Only after fully understanding the objectives and the nature of the job can a manager determine if modifications to team size or workload would lead to greater productivity.

Before Sara’s models could be applied to other teams within the company, Perot was acquired by Dell. As the companies merge, Sara has moved from service to marketing, but the experience she gained from her project and from the EMBA degree are not wasted. They have opened doors for promotion for her in the reorganization phase. When the dust settles, Sara plans to implement certain elements of her models to teams within Dell.

Michael Hopkins

Production Control Group Leader, IAH/HOU Heavy Aircraft Maintenance, Continental Airlines; Houston, Texas

Mike Hopkins can easily quantify the value of his Capstone Project: millions of dollars in corporate savings.

From the trucks that tow the luggage from the gate to the plane, to the tugs that push aircraft into position on the ground, it takes a fleet of thousands of support vehicles to ensure that your flight leaves safely and on time. Mike’s Capstone Project was to improve efficiency in the strategic organization of Continental’s ground services equipment division.

A problem of this magnitude was more than Mike could handle alone, so he enlisted the help of four Mays Full-Time MBA students, Justin Zsiros, Derek Egbert, Imraan Mulla, and James Kress. Together the team collected and interpreted more than 60,000 lines of data on vehicle performance and maintenance. After eight months of hard work that required the cooperation of many units within the organization, Mike was ready to present his recommendations to Continental’s top executives.

The results were received with excitement and will be used to drive change and reduce costs at every hub within Continental’s system. Mike’s timing couldn’t be better. Continental is currently preparing for a merger with United Airlines, and both companies will place a high priority on streamlining operations as they integrate.

Bruce Pool

South Business Unit VP for North America, Aggreko, LLC; Houston, Texas

Not all growth is good. If expansion isn’t strategic, then it may not be sustainable. So says Bruce Pool, whose Capstone Project examined the growth patterns of the rapidly expanding global firm, Aggreko, LLC, a rental power, temperature control, and compressed air systems company.

Bruce Pool’s Capstone Project has helped Aggreko take a more critical look at their expansion plans.

As demand for services outpaced strategic planning, Aggreko had followed customers’ growth into new markets, committing $8-$12 million in facility, rental fleet and people with each new site. In many cases the investments were successful. But if the customer they were following had a downturn, if the market was too narrow or already saturated, or if they could offer no advantage over area competitors, then they experienced only marginal results at best.

To help Aggreko understand the dynamics of rapid expansion, Bruce gathered and analyzed economic and market data for 50 existing sites that had performed best for Aggreko in recent years, not in terms of total revenue, but for year-over-year increases. Using these data, he then developed a model to evaluate six sites under active consideration for expansion.

The data he collected challenged assumptions about the way Aggreko does business, such as the long-held belief that growing in areas with a large energy trade was the best strategy. It turned out, however, the best markets are far more diversified.

Based on Bruce’s project, Aggreko has put expansion into one of the markets it was considering on hold. During the next year, he hopes to refine the model to more effectively incorporate pricing and demand data by sector. As the company grows globally, his models will be at the forefront of expansion decisions.

Hosted by the Full-Time and Executive MBA Programs, the panel brought together expert opinions from industry insiders, as well as an audience of more than 200 professionals from various industries. Presenters included a physician, the VP of benefits at large multinational company, and a member of the Mays management faculty. Moderated by Loren Steffy, business columnist at the Houston Chronicle, opinions varied, but all agreed on one thing: health care reform is imminent and vitally necessary.

A costly necessity

J. James Rohack, MD, was the first panelist to jump into the discussion. As a physician, the president of the American Medical Association, and the director of the Center for Health Care Policy at Scott and White Clinic, Rohack had a lot to say about the topic of reform. “The AMA decided two years ago to get involved in health system reform as frankly we noted…that for those that didn’t have health insurance, they lived sicker, they died younger, and the federal government said your access point is the emergency room,” he said. With the uninsured gaining primary care through ERs, we’re already paying for universal health care, as the cost of treating these people comes from everyone else paying a higher premium, Rohack contends.

A distinguished panel of industry leaders, policy experts, and Texas A&M faculty members met on November 12, 2009 at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, Houston Branch to discuss how pending historic changes to the health care system will impact the business community. (view more photos)

Congress is concerned that reforming the system will add to the national deficit. Inaction will do the same, says Rohack. “The reality is these bandaid approaches…have grown the problem.” The AMA has been working with Congress to devise a solution since 2001. If serious action had occurred three years ago, the cost would have been less than $50 billion. Instead, stopgap measures were utilized, so that now, to “fix” the system the price is $210 billion—and will increase to $310 billion by 2012, when four million Baby Boomers will start to draw Medicare benefits.

Rohack is critical of proposed changes to Medicare that would reduce the amount paid to physicians. Fifty percent of health care in the U.S. is provided by solo practitioners or offices of less than three physicians. They are small business owners, Rohack says. The proposed Medicare cuts would reduce the profitability of these practitioners by 21 percent and the current business model will not be viable. This creates a new dilemma. If physicians have to close their practices, it will exacerbate access problems. That is especially true in rural areas where there are a disproportionate number of Medicare patients, he says.

John Kajander, senior vice president of the Texas Medical Center, echoed Rohack, noting that hospitals receive a large portion of their revenues from Medicare patients. That kind of subsidy already provided by the government means that all non-Medicare patients are paying 25 percent more to pay for others’ care. The money is already being spent, he says. When it comes to reform, it’s just a reallocation of where the money comes from.

To those that are concerned about “death panels” and government involvement in health decisions, Kajander was unsympathetic. “We should never kid ourselves. We’ve got health care rationing today,” he says. If you’re at a public hospital and you’ve got cancer, you may have to wait several months to see an oncologist and start chemo—and that wait may be too long.

Americans tend to have a negative perception of anything that sounds like socialized medicine, however, there are lessons to be learned from the Canadian health care system, says David Kasper. His company, Waste Management Inc., operates in most states and several other countries. As the vice president of benefits, he is familiar with the health care options for his employees in the U.S. and Canada.

Kasper says Americans demand more amenities from hospitals (such as private rooms, cable, etc.). Canadian hospitals are very basic by comparison. But nobody in Canada goes broke when they get sick.

Kajander commented on this as well, noting that the American system is inefficient, but that Americans might not be willing to make certain trade offs (such as choosing your own doctor) in order to reduce costs.

The public option still being debated will provide everyone with a bare minimum of coverage, Kasper says. To those that are worried that all business will cease to provide insurance and will pay only for the public option, Kasper says we must remember that many employers see benefits packages as recruitment tools; they want to offer what’s going to net the best employees. Small businesses are the ones that will save the most through a public option, if it’s offered. However, some larger companies will stick with private insurance or their own self-insurance programs, predicts Kasper.

Wellness programs key to savings and health

Waste Management Inc. is self-insured, providing tailored coverage for their 45,000 employees. Kasper says they look at health care expenditures as an investment. “It’s a very labor intensive business. People are our most important asset…We cannot operate unless we have people on the job doing what they need to be doing…Their health and productivity is…directly linked to the success of our organization,” he says.

A large part of Waste Management’s focus is on wellness programs, where healthy behaviors, such as not smoking and proper weight maintenance, are incentivized. Kasper says that legislation should incent employees to do the right thing for their own health, placing a monetary emphasis on prevention and healthy behaviors.

Rohack agrees. “Half of health care costs are because of choices people make…We can fix the system, but people are going to have to be engaged in healthier choices,” he says.

Michael Wesson, associate professor of management at Mays, mentioned corporate examples of wellness programs that are working, such as the incentive program implemented by grocery chain Safeway (see Wall Street Journal article: “How Safeway Is Cutting Health-Care Costs” ). They’ve reduced healthcare costs enormously, he says. As has IBM, who have dropped employee co-pays to encourage better preventative care from employees. New legislation should provide concrete funding for wellness programs, says Wesson.

What should reform look like?

Where in the country is health care being done well? In non-profit community health centers, says Rohack. The costs are lower and the outcomes are high. He also held up Lasik eye surgery as an example: the cost has decreased over the years, even as the procedure has improved. Why? Because it isn’t covered by insurance, so customers shop around to find where it can be done most affordably, forcing doctors to provide quality and economy. It’s rare to have that level of price comparison with other medical procedures.

That’s part of the problem, says Wesson: the price of medical procedures is too mysterious. Most patients have no idea how much it costs to receive healthcare, and most doctors have no idea what the real cost of a procedure or drug will be for their patients. He doesn’t believe that the current legislation pending before Congress does anything to alleviate this issue or to bring consumers into the picture.

Following comments from each of the speakers, the panel answered questions from the audience.

Wesson says everyone should have health coverage, but he is concerned about the price tag associated with the reforms before legislative bodies currently. The challenge before Congress is to expand coverage and lower costs. He says many versions of the bills before the House and Senate expand coverage, but are lacking in the cost reduction guarantees.

Robert Ohsfeldt, professor of health policy and management at the School of Rural Public Health at Texas A&M System Health Science Center, commented that there are about 48 million uninsured in the U.S. One of the main challenges in passing a reform that would expand coverage is convincing the other 256 million people in the U.S. that it is needed. “Those that have insurance for the most part don’t see this as a crisis that needs to be addressed right now,” he says, noting that whatever changes are made, people will complain.

Bruce Broussard, chairman and CEO at U.S. Oncology says that in markets that are highly competitive, there is a lower cost-delivery system. For that reason, the introduction of a government option will reduce cost by increasing competition. He also mentioned that potential litigation drives up the cost of health care significantly. If that problem could be solved through tort reform, the cost savings would be dramatic. (Rohack was quoted on this topic in the article “Trial lawyers plan tort reform fight” in Politico. ).

Reform is essential the panelists agreed. As Broussard and Ohsfeldt asserted, the cost of health care must come down. It’s unsustainable at its current level.

Complete video from the event is available at mays.tamu.edu/health.