Oct. 26, 2009 (Business Wire) -- CHI-California Healthcare Institute today announced that due to high demand, the registration for the 2009 California Healthcare Policy Forum to be held Nov. 5, at the InterContinental Mark Hopkins San Francisco Hotel, from 11:30 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. has been extended to Thursday, Oct. 29. This annual statewide conference brings together opinion leaders from the science, business and public sectors to discuss opportunities and issues facing the biomedical community.

Featured speakers will include A. Eugene Washington, M.D., M.Sc., executive vice chancellor and provost of University of California, San Francisco, David L. Gollaher, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer, CHI; Sharon Levine, M.D., associate executive medical director, The Permanente Medical Group, Michael Goldberg, partner, Mohr Davidow Ventures, Alan M. Garber, M.D., Ph.D., director, center for health policy and center for primary care and outcomes research, Stanford University, futurist Ian Morrison, Hans Bishop, president, specialty medicine, Bayer HealthCare LLC, Robert B. Hance, president, Abbott Vascular, Carl W. Hull, president and CEO, Gen-Probe Incorporated, Michael A. Mussallem, chairman and CEO, Edwards Lifesciences, John C. Martin, Ph.D., chairman of the board and CEO, Gilead Sciences and Mark D. Smith, M.D., M.B.A., president and CEO, California HealthCare Foundation. Legislators, including Assemblymembers Nathan Fletcher and Jose Solorio, will also speak at the event.

“This forum brings together industry leaders and policy makers for a conversation about the relationship between public policy and biomedical innovation,” said Gollaher. “CHI believes that the implications of healthcare reform for life sciences innovation are profound, and health reform proposals must address cost-savings, improve quality and expand coverage without harming future medical breakthroughs.”

A topic of discussion at the forum will be the value of biomedical innovation as the cost of medicines and new technologies present challenges to both public and private payers. The biomedical community is opening a dialogue with state and federal policy makers as well as payers and patients on reining in the cost of medicine and medical technology while protecting innovation and encouraging future investment in research and discovery.

The half-day forum will begin with a networking luncheon at 11:30 a.m., followed by the “Healthcare Reform and Assessing the Value of Medical Innovation” discussion at 12:30 p.m., which will include Gollaher, Goldberg, Garber, Levine, and Washington, with Morrison moderating this conversation about competing priorities within current healthcare reform proposals. Assemblymember Nathan Fletcher will then address the attendees on California’s role in the healthcare debate. Following his address, top biomedical industry executives in the state of California, including Bishop, Hance and Hull, will discuss how proposed healthcare policies will affect investment and product development. Next, attendees will meet Assemblymember Jose Solorio during a salon interactive session to discuss how industry leaders can effectively engage in the political process. The forum will conclude with “Innovation at the Crossroads: Cardiovascular Medicine and Infectious Disease,” featuring Mussallem, Martin and Smith, discussing the latest research from their companies and how federal policy influences product decisions.

CHI has extended the registration deadline due to high demand. The rate for CHI members is $295; non-members is $445 and academic and nonprofits is $95. Visit www.chi.org/hcpf/default.aspx or call 858-551-6677 to register. Members of the media may register at no cost. Visit the forum Web site for details.

About CHI

CHI represents more than 250 leading biotechnology, medical device, diagnostics, and pharmaceutical companies, and public and private academic biomedical research organizations. CHI’s mission is to advance responsible public policies that foster medical innovation and promote scientific discovery. CHI’s Web site is www.chi.org.