Mark Ganz & Ron Brownstein

Palliative Care and Support for the Patient & Caregiver

In this segment of "Life Love & Health: Special Edition,” Mark Ganz, President and CEO of Regence BlueCross BlueShield, and Ronald Brownstein, Editorial Director for the National Journal, discuss how palliative care preserves dignity and compassion in the face of a serious illness, and the holistic approach that manages the patient’s pain while also supporting the needs of caregivers and families.

Mark B. Ganz is President and Chief Executive Officer of Regence BlueCross BlueShield,a regional not-for-profit health and life insurance company based in Portland, Oregon. Regence serves approximately two million people in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah. Since joining Regence in 1992, Mr. Ganz has served Chief Operating Officer, Chief Legal Officer and Secretary and Chief Compliance Officer. As the son of a physician, he has participated in the region’s health care community his entire life. His civic leadership includes directorship positions with Portland General Electric Inc., U.S. Bank-Oregon Advisory Board, Oregon Business Council Executive Committee, Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association, America’s Health Insurance Plans, Boy Scouts of America-Cascade Pacific Council, JELD-WEN Tradition Foundation, Jesuit High School and the University of Portland Board of Regents. He also chairs the board of Greater Portland Inc., a regional economic development corporation. Mr. Ganz earned undergraduate and law degrees from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. As an undergraduate, he was a member of the staff of U.S. Senator Henry M. “Scoop” Jackson (D-Wash). Ronald Brownstein, Editorial Director and columnist for the National Journal magazine in Washington, D.C., coordinates political coverage and activities across publications produced by Atlantic Media. ?He’s a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist for his coverage of presidential campaigns, and has served as the Los Angeles Times' National Political Correspondent and the author of the weekly Washington Outlook column. He was a political analyst for CNN from 1998 through 2004 and appears regularly on NBC, ABC, CBS, and MSNBC. His sixth and most recent book, The Second Civil War: How Extreme Partisanship Has Paralyzed Washington and Polarized America, was published by Penguin in November 2007.??Among numerous honors, Mr. Brownstein was the 2007 recipient of the American Political Science Association’s Carey McWilliams award for lifetime achievement honoring a major journalistic contribution to our understanding of politics.

www.regencefoundation.org

www.lifeloveandhealth.com

Christopher Springmann

2011-08-05