URAC Reveals Distinguished Judges' Panel for 2009 Best Practices in Health Care Consumer Empowerment and Protect...( Awards will recognize best practi...),Health

Awards will recognize best practices in consumer decision-making and consumer health improvement across the health care management spectrum

WASHINGTON, Aug. 7 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- URAC announced that more than thirty of the nation's foremost thought leaders in health care management will judge entries for its 2009 Best Practices in Health Care Consumer Empowerment and Protection Awards. The Best Practices awards recognize innovative and proven programs from health information/decision support, health management, health plans, health networks, pharmacy quality management and workers' compensation companies.

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URAC's Best Practices Awards were created to extend the organization's educational mission by shining a spotlight on proven best practices within the health care management industry. The top programs will be designated URAC Best Practices award winners and will be honored during the 2009 Best Practices in Health Care Consumer Empowerment and Protection Conference & Exhibit, April 1-2, 2009 in Orlando.

"Last year we inaugurated the Best Practices Awards and Conference to tap into and share the innovative practices that are transforming health care management," said Alan P. Spielman, URAC's president and chief executive officer. "Our judges' panel will again be representative of the best and the most widely recognized experts in program evaluation, care coordination, health information technology, employer and purchaser decision making and patient safety."

Chairing the panel is epidemiologist Thomas W. Wilson, Ph.D, DrPH, Trajectory HealthCare, LLC. Other eminent panelists include:

-- Patricia Adams, vice president of business operations & external affairs, National Pharmaceutical Council;

-- Jeanne Boling, MSN, consultant and former president, Case Management So
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