(left to right)
Rick Kahle, Lockton Companies
( Co-Chair, Co-Sponsor and Host)
Greg Klein, Inland Truck Parts

Hannes Zacharias, Johnson County Government
Bruce Bagley, American Academy of Family Physicians

Tom Franzen, Johnson County Government

Danette Wilson, Blue Cross Blue Shield of KC External Operations Group

Lynn Duncan, Layne Christensen Co.

Larkin O'Keefe, MedTrak Pharmacy Services

Judy Worrall, IMA, Inc.

Paul Russell, Cates Sheet Metal Contractors

Jill Watson, Metro Med

Mark Avery, Power Group Companies

Kevin Sparks, Blue Cross Blue Shield of KC Internal Operations Group

Keith Wisdom, UnitedHealthcare

Carolyn Watley, CBIZ

Steve Best, J.E. Dunn Construction

Edward Fensholt, Lockton Companies

Bridget McCandless, Metro Med

Bill Bruning, Mid-America Coalition on HealthCare

David Gentile, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Kansas City (Co-Chair and Co-Sponsor)

Area Health Care Leaders Make the Best of "Reform"

As an opening question at the 11th annual Healthcare Industry Outlook organized by Ingram’s Magazine, the participants were given a choice. They could either express their greatest hope for impending federal health-care reforms, passed under the rubric of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or they could express their greatest anxiety.

This assembly was held high above the Country Club Plaza at the elegant offices of the Lockton Companies, which co-sponsored the event along with Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Kansas City. Ably chairing the assembly were Rick Kahle, president of Lockton’s Employee Benefits Division, and David Gentile, president and CEO of Blue Cross.

As to the question’s answer, the initial respondents responded largely in the affirmative. “I’ll have to say I’m very hopeful,” said Lynn Duncan, Layne Christensen’s director of compensation and benefits, if for no other reason than that “our employees finally understand how much we care about their health.”