WWSG Exclusive
Healthcare Policy Expert; Founder, Fire Arrow Consulting; Former Assistant to the President; Former Director of the Domestic Policy Council
Joseph Grogan is a healthcare expert with a unique blend of private sector and government experience spanning over two decades in the Washington, D.C. healthcare arena. He is also a policy thought leader who has played a key role in the health sector’s most consequential debates of the last decade. Grogan shares his bipartisan approach to the health landscape with audiences, focusing on the dignity of patients, access for all, and the many areas of opportunity for American innovation to flourish.
Federation of American Hospitals Annual Meeting
Finding a Cure for the Cost of Durable Therapies
How can America avoid bankrupting itself on health care spending? Spending on major U.S. healthcare programs like Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act as a share of non-interest payments is projected to increase from 28% in 2019 to 41% by 2051. Medicare spending alone will increase from $796 billion in 2019 to $1.7 trillion by 2031 and growing deficits are projected to drive federal debt held by the public to unprecedented levels over the next 30 years.
The dominant view in Washington, D.C. will remain that healthcare markets are irretrievably broken and that only the government can allocate care equitably and control costs. Even those who object to single payer approaches often provide as an alternative a technocratic approach to health care informed by a lack of faith in private sector solutions. But was the market ever given a chance?
In this speech, Joe discusses how policy experts and policymakers on both sides of the aisle fail to study and respect the power of health care markets to lower costs and provide access. Joe will describe why he thinks both Republicans and Democrats have gotten off course and lay out a balanced strategy to rethinking America’s health care approach, so that innovation and access can be balanced, resulting in lower costs.
How can the U.S. healthcare system accommodate innovation while providing equitable access? In every other area of the U.S. economy, innovation drives costs down. In healthcare, innovative services, devices, and pharmaceuticals are often treated with hostility by both policymakers and payers. However, legacy products are often protected by legislators.
In this talk, Joe calls upon his experiences at Gilead Sciences, Inc. during the blockbuster launch of a cure for Hepatitis C, his work at the Food and Drug Administration, the Office of Management and Budget, and in the West Wing of the White House to map a bipartisan approach to healthcare that focuses on the dignity of all patients, provides access for all, and allows American innovation to flourish.
Politics, Science, and Ethics: A Conversation With Joe Grogan and Dr. Robert Redfield
Few debates have roiled Washington, D.C. more in recent years than arguments about the role of politics in scientific pursuit and communication. Recent revelations about human genetics experiments and Gain-of-Function research paid for with U.S. taxpayer dollars and occurring all over the world have cracked open deep questions about the ethics of some scientific pursuits. How should scientists consider ethics and morality in what they choose to pursue? How should Congress and policymakers set scientific priorities about what should be funded? Should all scientific knowledge be published for public consumption or is it sometimes appropriate to conceal knowledge for the public good?
In this discussion, Joe Grogan sits down with Robert Redfield to discuss Dr. Redfield’s former research efforts as an active-duty US Army officer, co-founding the University of Maryland Institute of Human Virology, and his experience as Director of CDC. They discuss how Congress funds health research, how the executive branch sets research priority, and why both policymakers and the public need to debate and scrutinize these efforts more closely.
Why is the “Value Revolution” in health care always just around the corner? Will it ever arrive? What defines value in the context of health care? Who benefits from this value and how is it measured? What is often branded as “value” is a description of cost avoidance. While patient outcomes are sometimes improved, patients capture little of the savings discussed.
In this speech, Joe explains why the current approach to pursuing value in health care is off track, and provides insight about why it should be re-thought fundamentally, from the perspective of the patient.
Joseph Grogan is a renowned healthcare expert with over two decades of experience spanning both the private sector and government. His career is distinguished by significant contributions to healthcare policy in the United States, and he engages in policy conversations ranging from artificial intelligence to the impact of populism on transatlantic relations.
In the public sector, Joe began his healthcare career in the George W. Bush Administration, serving as Executive Director of the President’s Advisory Council on HIV and AIDS. He later joined the Food and Drug Administration as a Senior Policy Advisor, where he tackled major public health issues, including challenges posed by tainted medical products from China and the reauthorization of the Prescription Drug User Fee Act. During the Trump Administration, Joe played a pivotal role as Associate Director for Health Programs at the Office of Management and Budget, managing a $1.3 trillion healthcare budget and shaping every major regulation issued by the Department of Health and Human Services. He was later appointed Assistant to the President and Director of the Domestic Policy Council, where he reinvigorated the office and was a key figure on the White House COVID-19 Task Force during the critical early months of the pandemic.
In the private sector, Joe has held influential roles, including running the Washington D.C. office of Gilead Sciences, Inc. during the launch of Sovaldi for Hepatitis C, one of the most lucrative and controversial drug launches in history. He has also consulted for Wall Street investors and major pharmaceutical companies, leveraging his comprehensive understanding of healthcare policy and regulatory environments.
Joe is currently the Strategic Advisor to the EU-US Forum, Chairman of the Board of Paragon Health, and a nonresident senior scholar at the USC Schaeffer Institute. He resides in London with his family and frequently travels to Washington, D.C. to engage with Congressional and Administration officials on ongoing health policy issues. His London residence and D.C. engagements allow him to focus on the evolution of transatlantic relations and the impact of rising populism on policy and business on both sides of the Atlantic.
Frequently called upon by reporters for his expertise in complex healthcare and political issues, Joe’s insights and analyses have been widely published in esteemed outlets such as The Wall Street Journal, Newsweek, and The Chicago Tribune. His unique perspective, drawn from extensive experience in both the U.S. and Europe, makes him a sought-after speaker on healthcare policy, transatlantic relations, and the interplay between populism and politics.
Joe Grogan holds a JD from the College of William & Mary and a BA from the State University of New York at Albany.
Joe was relaxed, down to earth, and was respectfully truthful when it came to his insights and opinions regarding what's happening in Washington. Our leadership valued the time together with him.
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