Conference topics will be anchored around the six pillars of strengthening a health ecosystem.

Pillar one: Leadership and governance

‘Leadership and governance involve ensuring that strategic policy frameworks exist and are combined with effective oversight, coalition-building, regulation, attention to system design and accountability.’
Topics include:

• State of Health address – Our reality
• Unpacking regulatory science – taking a lead in applying the laws
• Regulatory compliance: taming trust deficit
• Developing an industry code/charter
• The importance of leadership and governance – leading change
• Hard truths about leading change
• Health in the global context

Pillar two: Health service delivery

‘Good health services are those that deliver effective, safe, quality personal and non-personal health interventions to those who need them, when and where needed, with minimum waste of resources.’
Topics include:

• Is there a place for CUPC & DHMO in strengthening the healthcare system?
• Strengthening primary care
• The market has been ready for multidisciplinary teams but our regulators are not yet there?
• A system that enables care co-ordination (improving healthcare status, managing healthcare costs, improving quality of care delivery)
• Group practice vs Solo practices
• Pharmacies providing primary care
• Generation of evidence of care (Value-based care)
• Response to the next global pandemic: Mental Health
• Blueprint for essential benefit package
• Desperate need for standardisation of alternative reimbursement models – adaptive and accelerative models
• Accountability for quality of care including health outcomes
• Redesigning the system to shift care into the community and digital platforms
• Telehealth impact & effectiveness of remote consultation. Are we treating the customer fairly?

Pillar three: Health workforce

‘A well-performing health workforce is one that works in ways that are responsive, fair and efficient to achieve the best health outcomes possible, given available resources and circumstances (i.e. there are sufficient staff, fairly distributed; they are competent, responsive and productive).’
Topics include:

• Do we have consensus on who a primary care practitioner is?
• Informed consent and meeting the needs of informed and engaged patients, invested in their own health
• How can we help build capacity for our regulators?
• Who is a Primary care practitioner
• Increasing Primary care capacity
• How to distribute & retain healthcare workers

Pillar four: Information systems

‘A well-functioning health information system is one that ensures the production, analysis, dissemination and use of reliable and timely information on health determinants, health system performance and health status.’
Topics include:

• Health information system and its elements
• Social determinants of health: are we paying sufficient attention?
• Importance of developing a health surveillance system
• 4IR and health access
• Conducting medical audits in modern practice environments

Pillar five: Medical products, vaccines and technologies

‘A well-functioning health system ensures equitable access to essential medical products, vaccines and technologies of assured quality, safety, efficacy and cost-effectiveness, and their scientifically sound and cost-effective use.’
Topics include:

• When is the right time to redesign benefit offerings aligned to UHC?
• Are we treating the customer fairly (probably lies in leadership & governance)
• Lessons learnt from the COVID-19 pandemic – Are we really equal?
• Creating employment – Business case for supporting local manufacturers

Pillar six: Financing

Topics include:

• Financing the health system – Lessons from COVID-19
• Infrastructure – input towards a future healthcare system
• Out of pocket payments
• Employed but uninsured population – situational analysis in the context of healthcare reform
• Policy/purchaser/provider split (role of government)
• Revisiting risk-based capital and investment schedule for health funder