Fix America: The Healthcare Dilemma - A Face The Facts USA Special Premieres On RLTV Thursday, March 28 At 9 PM ET

BALTIMORE, March 14, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- On Thursday, March 28 at 9 PM ET, RLTV, the only cable network and online destination for adults 50+, will tackle and explore solutions to the unprecedented challenges the nation's strained healthcare system faces in Fix America: The Healthcare Dilemma – A Face the Facts USA Special. The special explores a variety of issues involved in healthcare, including:

• what is being and can be done to fix the healthcare system;
• why doctors are under pressure;
• how can the long-term care system be revamped to encourage aging in place;
• how does Medicare affect healthcare costs and delivery; and
• why and how patients can be more accountable for their own care.

(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20121015/PH93154LOGO )

Frank Sesno, director of The George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs and Face the Facts USA co-founder, moderates a discussion featuring a top-level panel of doctors, policy analysts and healthcare experts.

"There's a growing sense among health professionals that to meet our aging population's ever-growing health care needs, the system needs to be focused more around outcomes – such as improved quality of life -- and less around specific procedures or treatments," said Sesno. "The issue of health care in America continues to be such a huge part of the national debate.  We want to ensure facts are integral to that debate. And only by facing the facts can we have a well-founded conversation about the tradeoffs and the solutions."

Panelists include:

• James Kirkland, MD – Director of the Mayo Clinic's Robert and Arlene Kogod's Center on Aging;
• Madhulika Agarwal, MD, MPH Deputy Undersecretary for Health Policy and Services, Dep. Of Veterans Affairs;
• David Himmelstein, MD founder of Physicians for a National Health Program;
• Yanira Cruz, MPH, President & CEO. National Hispanic Council on Aging                                               
• Sara Rosenbaum, JD, Chair, Department of Health Policy, George Washington University
• John Erickson, Founder Erickson Living (and Chairman/Founder RLTV).
• M. Gregg Bloche, Co-Director, Georgetown-Johns Hopkins Joint Program in Law and Public Health, Professor of Law; Author of The Hippocratic Myth: Why Doctors Are Under Pressure to Ration Care, Practice Politics and Compromise their Promise to Heal.
• Chad Boult, MD, MPH, MBA, Director Healthcare Systems Improvement Program Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI)
• Ardis Dee Hoven, MD, President-Elect of the American Medical Association
• David Reuben, MD, Chief of Geriatrics, David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA

"The biggest problem I see right now is that the post-75 age group is out there negotiating privately with five and six doctors who do not speak to each other, and that's a platform for disaster," said John Erickson, an early proponent of electronic medical records and pro-active preventive care who, as head of Erickson Living, implemented a system that resulted in a dramatic decline in hospitalization rates compared to those outside his communities.

Fix America: The Healthcare Dilemma - A Face the Facts USA Special is part of a series of town halls and panel discussions produced in partnership with Face the Facts USA and airing exclusively on RLTV.  These specials are part of RLTV's solutions-focused Fix America initiative, which creates content around relevant and pressing issues facing our country today, with an emphasis on those that have significant and real impact on the 50+ Generation. 

Clips from Fix America: The Healthcare Dilemma - A Face the Facts USA Special, as well as information on additional airdates and times, are available at www.rl.tv.

About Face the Facts USA
Face the Facts USA is a new nonpartisan, multi-platform content hub and civic engagement initiative dedicated to elevating the tone of national debate with provocative facts.  It is based at The George Washington University's School of Media and Public Affairs in Washington, D.C.

About The George Washington University
In the heart of the nation's capital with additional programs in Virginia, the George Washington University was created by an Act of Congress in 1821. Today, GW is the largest institution of higher education in the District of Columbia.  The university offers comprehensive programs of undergraduate and graduate liberal arts study, as well as degree programs in medicine, public health, law, engineering, education, business and international affairs.  Each year, GW enrolls a diverse population of undergraduate, graduate and professional students from all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and more than 130 countries. 

About RLTV
The only cable network and online destination created specifically for adults 50+, RLTV (www.rl.tv) offers unique, inspiring programming that experienced and knowledgeable viewers desire and appreciate. The network's Emmy Award–winning content focuses on topics that matter to Generation 50+ -- from relationships, reinvention, rediscovering passions and retirement, to finances, health, and current events. At RLTV, it's all about rethinking life for adults 50+. 

RLTV.  Experience Matters.

SOURCE RLTV