Savannah business attorney Charles Bowen of The Bowen Law Group will be a featured panelist in the Second National Health Policy and Clinical Practice Conference to be held in Savannah from Thursday, March 31 to Saturday, April 2 at the Westin Savannah Harbor Golf & Spa Resort.

The overall purpose of the event, sponsored by the Multiple Chronic Conditions Resource Center, is to extend an opportunity to interdisciplinary health care professionals and the general public to review, identify and discuss pertinent changes that are impacting and influencing American health care as a result of the Affordable Care Act.

The culmination of the three-day conference will be held on Saturday, April 2. Experts from diverse and different disciplines, including Bowen, will participate in a panel discussion on policies and practice. Other participants include Robert Rollings, MD; Lisa Hayes, PhD; Elizabeth Harrison, PhD; State Representative Jesse Petrae; State Representative Craig Gordon and Joanne Lynn, MD. The panel discussion will take place from 10:30 a.m to 12:30 p.m.

“The 2016 Health Policy and Clinical Practice conference will facilitate a discussion and better understanding on how health policy interfaces with clinical practice,” said Bowen. “It will also be an opportunity for practitioners and the public to become better informed about massive health care changes being generated by the sixth year of the Affordable Care Act and that will transform the U.S. health care system.”

In a timeline announced earlier this year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services expects the standard fee-for-service payment structure to be dramatically reduced by the end of 2018 due to efforts to move Medicare and the health care system at large toward paying providers based on the quality rather than the quantity of care given patients. According to Multiple Chronic Conditions Resource Center, this is of particular significance to the largest, fastest growing and most costly U.S. patient population, those who have two or more chronic conditions.

The conference sponsor has additionally partnered with the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Agency for Health Research and Quality, to provide a FREE Train the Trainer Program on SHARED Decision Making at the conference. This will offer the opportunity for medical professionals across multiple disciplines to receive 8.5 continuing education contact hours by attending required sessions.

Early bird registration before Monday, February 1 is $289 for medical professionals and $195 for the general public. To register for this event, please visit MultipleChronicConditions.org.