The 2011 Inaugural Inland Empire Quality of Life Summit, presented by the Inland Empire Economic Partnership, took place last week with the aim of providing the region with a forum to discuss the many unique resources, opportunities and successes within the Inland Empire and to serve as an opportunity for professionals to teach each other about their respective industries. Jim Lott, HASC executive vice president, and Christina Bivona-Tellez, regional vice president of HASC’s Inland Area Office, spoke to the 500 participants at this summit about health care issues of concern to the region.

Lott’s session, focusing on health care reform, was titled “The Affordable Care Act and the Bridge to Reform.” Key topics covered:

• What makes this legislation so revolutionary?
• How will the Affordable Care Act transform our current system of care?
• In what ways will it look different from the federal, state and local level?

Bivona-Tellez participated in a panel presentation on the Community Benefits Collaborative. A critical question for discussion in this panel was: If we are going to be incentivized to keep people with the health care system, how do we shift the paradigm to a system that has incentivized procedures versus prevention?

Health Care & Well-Being was one sub-topic of the Inland Empire Quality of Life Summit; other areas of focus included Education & Workforce; Sustainable Communities; Business; and Transportation. For more information, visit www.ieqol.com.