The 24th National Conference on Primary Health Care Access at the Grand Hyatt Kaua'i April 7-11, 2013
Last Updated on April 16, 2022 by Lee Burnett, DO, FAAFP
The 24th National Conference on Primary Health Care Access, the invitational conference conducted by the Coastal Research Group, will be held the mornings of April 8, 9, 10 and 11, 2013 at the Grand Hyatt Kaua’i. This represents the seventh time that the National Conferences have met at this spectacular resort. The theme of the 24th National Conference is “What Has Changed”.

The National Conferences are a mechanism for bringing together major figures in primary health care policy for the United States, including persons from the health professional, academic and public health communities.
Among the topics to be discussed is the impact of judicial decisions, politics and administrative regulations on the administration of the Patient Protection and Accountable Care Act (PPACA).
Invitations have been sent to the Senior Fellows and Fellows of the Coastal Research Group’s National Consortium on Community-Based Medical Education, and to registrants of previous National Conferences. Additional invitations will be sent over the next few weeks. (For those wishing more information on the invitation process, contact [email protected].)
For those wishing to arrive early or stay after the conference, the Grand Hyatt Kaua’i will offer (on a space available basis) the very favorable Coastal Research Group rate for the nights of April 3, 4, 5 and 6 and the nights of April 11, 12, 13 and 14.

The registration fee, as with all the National Conferences, includes accommodations for the nights of April 7, 8, 9 and 10 (checking out at noon on April 11th.) Registration fees must be paid in advance and the the pre- and post- nights are master-billed and must be paid in full prior to the conference. Continuing medical education credits will be awarded. (For information on past CME awards, see: CME Prescribed Credits for National Conferences on Primary Health Care Access.)
The National Conferences provide an intense immersion in current primary health care policy issues. There is a notable continuity in both the plenary faculty and the invited registrants from conference to conference.
An innovation at the 23rd National Conference, held in April 2012, is the creation of six National Conference Scholar positions, for persons new to the National Conferences, each sponsored by the Scholar’s home institution.

Medical or public health school or teaching hospital departments, primary care residency programs, teaching health centers, or public agencies wishing to sponsor one of the six National Conference Scholar positions to be established for 2013 (for a designee of their choice) should contact William H. Burnett, Program Coordinator, The National Conferences on Primary Health Care Access at [email protected].
Preliminary announcements about the 2013 program and the plenary faculty will be made soon, and updated regularly.
A current initiative of the National Conferences is the publication on this website of the proceedings of all of the 23 National Conferences held to date, with the objective of completing this task in time for the 25th National Conference in April, 2014. A perusal of the coastalresearch.org website will highlight some of the past presentations and activities of the National Conferences.
Policy on Cancellations and Credits
Concurrent with the First National Conference on Primary Health Care Access (1990) the Coastal Research Group Executive Board established the following policy regarding cancellation of plans to attend a National Conference: No refunds are made, but no penalties are assessed (except in those cases of penalties assessed to the Coastal Research Group for “last minute” cancellation of rooms or food functions associated with the cancelling guests, and, in that circumstance, only for the amount charged by the facility to the Coastal Research Group). In all other cases, full credit for any registration fees or for master-billed extra nights will be established, which may be applied to the registration fee or available master-billed extra room nights at the next or subsequent National Conferences.
24th National Conference Faculty (confirmed as of 3-27-13).
Marc E. Babitz, MD, Utah Department of Health, Salt Lake City
Ana Bejinez-Eastman, MD, Presbyterian Intercommunity Hospital, Whittier, California
John M. Boltri, MD, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
Robert Bowman, MD, A. T. Still University, Mesa, Arizona
Lt Colonel Lee Burnett, DO, Student Doctor Network, Pinehurst, North Carolina
William H. Burnett, MA, Coastal Research Group, Granite Bay, California
Mark E. Clasen, MD, Ph.D., Wright State University Emeritus, Dayton, Ohio
Richard Clover, MD, University of Louisville (Kentucky)
Denise Crawford, Family Health Center, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Michael Fine, MD, Rhode Island Department of Health, Providence
Rick Flinders, MD, Santa Rosa Family Medicine, Santa Rosa, California
Hector Flores, MD, White Memorial Medical Center, Los Angeles
Virginia Fowkes, FNP, MHS, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
N. Benjamin Fredrick, MD, Penn State University, Hershey, Pennsylvania
Donald Frey, MD, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska
John Geyman, MD, University of Washington Emeritus, Friday Harbor, Washington
Mark D. Goodman, MD, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska
Thomas Hansen, MD, Creighton University, Omaha, Nebraska
Kevin Haughton, MD, Providence Medical Group, Olympia, Washington
James Herman, MD, Penn State University/Hershey Medical Center, Hershey, Pennsylvania
Thomas C. Hines, MD, Boston University, Boston, Massachusetts
Allen Hixon, MD, University of Hawai’i, Mililani
Colin Kopes-Kerr, MD, Peach Tree Health Care, Marysville, California
Darryl Leong, MD, MPH, Care 1st Health Plan, Monterey Park, California
Gary LeRoy, MD, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
Eugenie Lewis, MHSA, LCSW, JWCH, Inc., Redondo Beach, California
Robert K. Maudlin, Providence Health Care, Spokane, Washington
Charles Q. North, MD, University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
Cynthia G. Olsen, MD, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio
Neal A. Palafox, MD, MPH University of Hawai’i, Mililani
Perry A. Pugno, MD, MPH, American Academy of Family Physicians, Leawood, Kansas
Carol Wilson Saffold, MD, Family Health Center, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Frederic N. Schwartz, DO, A. T. Still University, Mesa, Arizona
David N. Sundwall, MD, University of Utah, Salt Lake City
Laura Turner, MS, Student Doctor Network, Southern Pines, North Carolina
Allan Wilke, MD, Western Michigan University, Kalamazoo, Michigan
Jennifer J. Wu, MD, University of California, San Diego
Hello-
Community Medical Centers is a 3 hospital system in Fresno, California that acts as the safety net provider for the area’s medically underserved population. We are extremely interested in looking at ways to improve primary care access to our patient populations and would welcome an invitation to attend your conference.
Please let me know if you need additional information.
Abdul Kassir
SVP, Managed Care
Community Medical Centers
Thank you Abdul,
During the first 23 National Conferences there have been several representatives from the hospitals that now comprise the Community Medical Centers of Fresno. Please let me know if there are representatives of Community Health Centers that you would like to have invited to the 24th National Conference. There will be several topics that would be of great interest to your organization.