MONEY AND MEDICINE
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Images
Website
Topics
Economy: Business, Consumption, Finance
Health: Disease/treatment
Project Geography
US: National
Budget
Raised to date: $275,000.00
Estimate to complete: $716,743.00
Total Estimated Budget: $991,743.00
The budget numbers above are accurate as of 01/07/2011
Status
Production
Media Type
Video
Project End Use
TV
Key Personnel
Roger Weisberg
Producer/Director
Roger Weisberg joined public television station Thirteen/WNET New York in 1976. As a staff producer, he produced dozens of programs on a broad range of social, political, and health policy issues. In 1982 Weisberg formed an independent production company, Public Policy Productions, to extend the reach and impact of his documentaries. Since founding the company, Weisberg has produced and directed 30 documentaries on subjects ranging from health care, aging, and the environment to defense policy, child welfare, and persistent poverty. The documentaries aired in primetime on PBS in the U.S., and many were broadcast in television markets around the world.
Weisberg's documentaries have won over 100 awards including Peabody, Emmy, and duPont-Columbia awards. Some of his films are vérité style documentaries with no narration, while others are narrated by prominent actors including Meryl Streep, Helen Hayes, and James Earl Jones, as well as distinguished journalists including Marvin Kalb, Jane Pauley, and Walter Cronkite. Weisberg received an Academy Award nomination in 2001 for SOUND AND FURY and in 2003 for WHY CAN'T WE BE A FAMILY AGAIN?
Stephen Segaller
Director of National Production for Thirteen/WNET
Since arriving at Thirteen in 1999, Stephen Segaller has created THAT MONEY SHOW in 2000-01; the primetime international documentary series WIDE ANGLE in 2002; and AIR: America's Investigative Reports (now Exposé) in 2006. After 9/11, he and Bill Moyers jointly produced the specials that led to the creation of NOW with Bill Moyers.
Segaller oversees all of Thirteen/WNET's national and local production units including NATURE, GREAT PERFORMANCES, AMERICAN MASTERS, SECRETS OF THE DEAD, WIDE ANGLE, EXPOSÉ, and CYBERCHASE. In March of 2008, he was elected Vice President. He has supervised the weekly newsmagazine RELIGION AND ETHICS NEWSWEEKLY; documentary series such as THE WAR OF THE WORLD; EXTREME OIL; RED GOLD: The Epic Story of Blood; LOCAL NEWS; and the FRED FRIENDLY SEMINARS; and individual documentaries such as the award-winning SREBRENICA - A Cry From The Grave; KOFI ANNAN: Center of the Storm; MAGGIE: Prime Minister Thatcher; ALLIES AT WAR; THE BLAIR DECADE; CITY AT WAR: London Calling with Walter Cronkite; the films of Frederick Wiseman; and the films of Roger Weisberg including the Academy Award-nominated SOUND AND FURY.
Outreach/Engagement Plan(s)
Although we put enormous time, energy, and resources into our productions, we think that our job is only half done once we complete the editing process. Equally important to us is the challenge of reaching the right audience and maximizing the impact of our films. As with all our recent productions, we are committed to a robust community engagement campaign to extend the reach of MONEY AND MEDICINE far beyond a one-shot broadcast on PBS. We will forge strategic partnerships with major health policy stakeholders; organize community screenings, town hall meetings, and other forums across the country; broadly distribute educational materials and DVDs; make mini-grants to public television stations for community screenings and events; coordinate local public television tie-in broadcasts; and create Viewer Kits and Teacher Guides.
Funders
| Name | Amount | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Odyssey Fund | $50,000.00 | 01/03/2011 | |
| Charles A. Frueauff Foundation | $25,000.00 | 12/20/2010 | |
| Spunk Fund | $20,000.00 | 12/15/2010 | |
| Missouri Foundation for Health | $75,000.00 | 09/01/2010 | |
| Silverweed Foundation | $100,000.00 | 09/01/2010 | |
| Trull Foundation | $5,000.00 | 08/10/2010 |
Location
3 Ludlow Lane
PO Box 650
Palisades, NY, 10964
Short Synopsis
As a follow-up to CRITICAL CONDITION, our 2008 PBS special on the uninsured, Public Policy Productions now turns its attention to the challenge of containing soaring health care costs, which is rapidly becoming the central focus of the next major health policy debate. In addition to putting a human face on the so-called waste and overtreatment that pervade our medical system, MONEY AND MEDICINE will examine promising programs throughout the country that are proving that it is possible to reduce health care costs while improving patient satisfaction and the overall quality of medical care.
Description/Treatment
Although the landmark health care bill that President Obama recently signed into law extends medical coverage to over thirty million Americans, the promise of providing quality health care to all Americans cannot be fulfilled until the country confronts the equally important challenge of controlling medical spending. Unless something is done to "bend the cost curve," rampant cost increases could easily eviscerate the substantial gains made with this historic legislation. MONEY AND MEDICINE, a new PBS documentary, will address the health care cost crisis, which undoubtedly will become the central focus of the next major health policy debate.
This timely feature documentary will put a human face on the excessive health care spending that is doing little or nothing to improve medical outcomes for millions of patients. In addition to illuminating the so-called waste and overtreatment that pervade our medical system, MONEY AND MEDICINE will examine a few promising programs throughout the country that are proving the it is possible to counteract the forces that drive unnecessary spending - that it is possible to reduce heath care costs, increase patient satisfaction, and improve overall quality of medical care.
The patient stories at the heart of MONEY AND MEDICINE will be divided into three sections: diagnostic testing, acute care, and end-of-life treatment. Throughout each section, we will examine the growing body of evidence that suggests that a significant percentage of health spending may be causing more harm than benefit. We also will explore the various forces that drive health care cost escalation: technology and innovation, patient demands and expectations, an aging population, the threat of medical malpractice suits, and an insurance system that rewards providers for the quantity of procedures they perform while insulating patients from the costs of their medical decisions. Finally, our patient stories will shed light on promising cost containment strategies like improving the coordination of patient care, facilitating informed patient decisions making, and practicing "evidenced based medicine." While eliminating wasteful medical spending without compromising the quality of care is much more easily said than done, MONEY AND MEDICINE can help advance the public debate surrounding this enormously difficult medical, ethical, economic, and political challenge.
Our most recent documentary on the struggles of the uninsured, CRITICAL CONDITION, first aired on PBS at the height of the 2008 presidential election debate over health care reform. MONEY AND MEDICINE will be broadcast during the run-up to the 2010 election when health care cost containment will surely be a hotly debated issue.
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