Forbes Media Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes Hosts Inaugural “Forbes Healthcare Summit” Dec 4-5, New York, NY

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--More than 200 prominent healthcare industry leaders will be participating at the inaugural “Forbes Healthcare Summit,” which will be held in New York City, from December 4 – 5^th, 2012. This invitation-only summit, sponsored by Medidata Solutions, Masimo, Mitre, and BASF, is dedicated to bridging the communications gap between healthcare’s varied constituencies while highlighting new financial models that encourage innovation. Forbes Media Chairman and Editor-in-Chief Steve Forbes will host and lead this non-partisan group in a discussion about creating a sustainable model for healthcare in the U.S.

“Healthcare is often overlooked as one of the greatest opportunities to drive growth in the world economy”

“Healthcare is often overlooked as one of the greatest opportunities to drive growth in the world economy,” said Steve Forbes, Chairman and Editor-in-Chief of Forbes Media. “As part of our longstanding mission to champion entrepreneurship, we are bringing this illustrious group of people together to stimulate a thoughtful discussion around helping improving people’s lives. Our goal is to encourage cross-collaboration across industries, and help turn disruptive ideas into actionable solutions.”

Rarely have these key stakeholders in the healthcare debate been brought together. Attendees of the summit include bipartisan government officials; heads of healthcare networks and medical centers; leading executives from pharmaceutical and insurance companies; top healthcare investors and bankers; and young disrupters in technology. Health and science innovators featured in the annual Forbes 30 Under 30 list also plan to participate. A complete list of participants is available at: http://www.forbes.com/conferences/2012/forbes-healthcare-2012.html

“Forbes has always covered the bad and good in healthcare, from the shortcomings of our current system to the promise of disruptive technologies and transformative ideas,” said Matthew Herper, Forbes Senior Editor, Science & Medicine. “This conference represents a unique opportunity to bring all that innovative thinking together in one place in order to talk about real change.”

During the conference, a series of panels will feature discussions about putting the consumer at the center of the U.S. healthcare industry, as well as improving affordability, accessibility and transparency. The sessions will also explore how new sources of data can perhaps help improve patient care, and whether DNA-sequencing machines can ever transform medicine or society. Other panels will highlight healthcare as a source of economic growth and philanthropy as a means to fight disease. The results of the “Forbes Healthcare Summit” will be featured in Forbes magazine in 2013, online and in a forthcoming ebook, with the aim of furthering the debate around the future of healthcare.

For more information, visit:
http://www.forbes.com/conferences/2012/forbes-healthcare-2012.html
And to read “First-Ever Forbes Health Care Conference To Focus On Transparency and Transformation” by Forbes Editor Matthew Herper, please click here:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/matthewherper/2012/10/16/first-ever-forbes-health-care-conference-to-focus-on-transparency-and-transformation/

About Forbes Media LLC

Forbes Media LLC, publisher of Forbes magazine and forbes.com, is an authoritative source of news and information on business, investing, technology, entrepreneurship, leadership and affluent lifestyles. Forbes.com, a leading business website, currently reaches 33 million monthly unique visitors, and Forbes magazine, Forbes Asia and Forbes Europe attract a global audience of 5 million readers. The Company also publishes ForbesLife magazine, as well as 24 licensed local editions around the world.

About Medidata Solutions

Medidata Solutions is a leading global provider of cloud-based clinical development solutions that enhance the efficiency of customers’ clinical trials. Medidata’s advanced platform lowers the total cost of clinical development by optimizing clinical trials from concept to conclusion: from study and protocol design, trial planning and budgeting, site negotiation, clinical portal, trial management, randomization and trial supply management, clinical data capture and management, safety events capture, medical coding to business analytics. Our diverse life science customer base spans biopharmaceutical companies, medical device and diagnostic companies, academic and government institutions, CROs and other research organizations, and includes more than 20 of the top 25 global pharmaceutical companies as well as organizations of all sizes developing life-enhancing medical treatments and diagnostics.

About Masimo

Masimo (NASDAQ: MASI) is the global leader in innovative noninvasive monitoring technologies that significantly improve patient care—helping solve "unsolvable" problems. In 1995, the company debuted Measure-Through Motion and Low Perfusion pulse oximetry, known as Masimo SET®, which virtually eliminated false alarms and increased pulse oximetry's ability to detect life-threatening events. More than 100 independent and objective studies have shown that Masimo SET® outperforms all other pulse oximetry technologies, even under the most challenging clinical conditions, including patient motion and low peripheral perfusion. In 2005, Masimo introduced rainbow SET® Pulse CO-Oximetry™ technology, allowing noninvasive and continuous monitoring of blood constituents that previously required invasive procedures, including total hemoglobin (SpHb®), oxygen content (SpOC™), carboxyhemoglobin (SpCO®), methemoglobin (SpMet®), and Pleth Variability Index (PVI®), in addition to SpO2, pulse rate, and perfusion index (PI). In 2008, the company introduced Masimo Patient SafetyNet™, a remote monitoring and wireless clinician notification system designed to help hospitals avoid preventable deaths and injuries associated with failure to rescue events. In 2009, Masimo introduced rainbow Acoustic Monitoring™, the first-ever noninvasive and continuous monitoring of acoustic respiration rate (RRa™). Masimo's rainbow SET® technology platform offers a breakthrough in patient safety by helping clinicians detect life-threatening conditions and helping guide treatment options. In 2010, Masimo acquired SEDLine®, a pioneer in the development of innovative brain function monitoring technology and devices. Masimo SET® and Masimo rainbow SET® technologies can also be found in over 100 multiparameter patient monitors from over 50 medical device manufacturers around the world. Founded in 1989, Masimo has the mission of "Improving Patient Outcome and Reducing Cost of Care by Taking Noninvasive Monitoring to New Sites and Applications®." Additional information about Masimo and its products may be found at www.masimo.com.

About The MITRE Corporation

The MITRE Corporation is a not-for-profit organization that provides systems engineering, research and development, and information technology support to the government. It operates federally funded research and development centers for the Department of Defense, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Internal Revenue Service and Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Homeland Security, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, with principal locations in Bedford, Mass., and McLean, Va. To learn more, visit www.mitre.org.

About BASF – The Chemical Company

BASF Corporation, headquartered in Florham Park, New Jersey, is the North American affiliate of BASF SE, Ludwigshafen, Germany. BASF has more than 16,000 employees in North America, and had sales of $20 billion in 2011. BASF offers many products for the medical devices industry, ranging from antimicrobials for polymeric medical devices to plastics for healthcare and diagnostic applications to feedstock for metal injection molding used in high-precision surgical devices. For more information about BASF’s North American operations, visit www.basf.us.

BASF is the world’s leading chemical company: The Chemical Company. Its portfolio ranges from chemicals, plastics, performance products and crop protection products to oil and gas. We combine economic success, social responsibility and environmental protection. Through science and innovation we enable our customers in almost all industries to meet the current and future needs of society. Our products and system solutions contribute to conserving resources, ensuring healthy food and nutrition and helping to improve the quality of life. We have summed up this contribution in our corporate purpose: We create chemistry for a sustainable future. BASF posted sales of about €73.5 billion in 2011 and had more than 111,000 employees as of the end of the year. Further information on BASF is available on the Internet at www.basf.com.