The Subcommittee on Health will hold a hearing titled, "Making Health Care Work for American Families: Improving Access to Care" at 10:00 a.m. on Tuesday, March 24, 2009, in 2322 Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing will examine racial, ethnic, and geographic disparities in access to health care, and the role of the healthcare workforce in addressing these disparities, with particular emphasis on primary care and nursing. The hearing will also examine the role of Medicare and Medicaid in addressing disparities and workforce issues. This is the third in a series of five overview hearings on health reform.

A summary of the hearing is available.

Witness List

• Brian D. Smedley, Ph.D., Vice President and Director, Health Policy Institute, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies
• Michael John Kitchell, M.D., President-Elect of Iowa Medical Society, McFarland Clinic PC
• Michael A. Sitorius, M.D., Professor and Chairman, Department of Family Medicine, University of Nebraska Medical Center
• Risa Lavizzo-Mourey, M.D., M.B.A., President and CEO, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Fitzhugh Mullan, M.D., Murdock Head Professor of Medicine and Health Policy, Professor of Pediatrics, The George Washington University
• Jeffrey P. Harris, M.D., F.A.C.P., President, American College of Physicians
• James R. Bean, M.D., President, American Association of Neurological Surgeons
• Diane Rowland, Sc.D., Executive Director, The Kaiser Commission on Medicaid and the Uninsured