Dear Members of TheySaidWhat Nation, Friends, Family, Groupies, Hangers-on, and Paparazzi,

The regional business coalitions seem to have consistently excellent conferences.  The upcoming 36th Annual Conference in Chicago (May 5 to 6) is likely to continue in this tradition, with a great agenda, venue, and attendee list.  I look forward to meeting many of you there.  The good news is, unlike many conferences, if you tell them you’re a friend of mine, they’ll still let you in.

By way of background and it’s a bit confusing, the regional business groups on health are loosely affiliated with the National Business Coalition on Health (NBCH), not the National Business Group on Health. While they have very different philosophies, there is good news about both organizations.

The good news about the former is that they are not nearly as dependent on wellness vendor dollars as other organizations, so it is important that you support their efforts to bring unbiased and thoughtful discussions into their conferences, starting with this one. In addition, the NBCH has recently continued its tradition of strong management with the appointment of Mike Thompson to the CEO role.

The good news about the latter is, according to the law of averages, they should soon be saying many intelligent things.