Catch These Upcoming Events and Publications

September was a particularly busy month, featuring a variety of health care conferences, meetings, publications, and ongoing debates about the federal budget and implementation of the health care exchanges, or marketplaces. Given all of that activity, it was easy to miss some noteworthy publications or invitations to upcoming events.

We spotted a few items that we wanted to highlight for you:

• NPC Chief Science Officer Dr. Robert W. Dubois will participate in a panel discussion at Health Affairs’ October 8 “Economic Trends And Quality Trade-offs” issue briefing at the National Press Club in Washington, DC. Dr. Dubois will join Troyen Brennan, Executive Vice President and Chief Medical Officer, CVS Caremark; Robert Reischauer, Former President, The Urban Institute; and Leonard D. Schaeffer, Judge Robert Maclay Widney Professor and Chair, Sol Price School of Public Policy, University of Southern California for a conversation on “Growth Of Per Capita Employer-Sponsored Insurance Spending Slowed to Historically Low Levels, 2007-11.” The issue briefing will kick off at 8:30 am, with Dr. Dubois’ panel beginning at 9:45 am.
  
  
• America’s biopharmaceutical companies remain deeply invested in finding new cures and developing treatments to prevent serious health conditions. According to a new fact book published by PhRMA, 271 vaccines are currently in development to treat a wide variety of conditions, such as infectious diseases, various forms of cancer and neurological disorders. “The 2013 Vaccines Fact Book” can be downloaded from PhRMA’s website.
  
  
• Research!America, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Elsevier, The George Washington University and the Society for Neuroscience are hosting a workshop to enable early career scientists to effectively communicate the importance of biomedical research to the media and policy makers. Media and policy experts are among the panelists, and the program includes Capitol Hill meetings in the afternoon. There is still time to register for this workshop, which will take place on October 9 at The George Washington University.
  
  
• The Patient Access Network Foundation is hosting a symposium, “Access and Cost-Sharing of Specialty Medications for Underinsured Patients,” on November 5 at the National Press Club. NPC Director for Comparative Effectiveness Research Dr. Jennifer Graff will participate in a 2 pm panel discussion on patient assistance trends.