BOSTON MA USA -- HEALTHCARE UPDATE NEWS SERVICE(TM) -- NOVEMBER 7, 2006: Health care executives from across the nation seek the timely information, unique perspectives, and unparalleled market strategies provided at Forces of Change: New Strategies for the Evolving Marketplace. The next offering of Forces will be April 11-13, 2007, and will feature a stellar line-up of faculty. Joining Forces of Change architect, David A. Shore, will be David Cutler, Arnold Epstein, Harvey Fineberg, David Gergen, Lucian Leape, and Marc Roberts among many others.

This popular Harvard program has sold out for three consecutive times and is expected to do so once again.

"The program is based on a powerful analytic model designed to assist departments and organizations in attaining a competitive edge," David A. Shore, Founding Director, Forces of Change Program and Trust Initiative states. "Past participants have described this program as a critical step in advancing their organizations' mission and margin."

The Forces of Change program is tailored to the needs of diverse health care leaders who share the ongoing challenge of providing patients with safe, cost-effective, and high quality care in a constantly shifting marketplace. The Forces program includes working sessions covering a range of health care and business issues from the perspective of the Forces analytic model. Participants will return to their organizations equipped with a new view of health care markets and a set of practical strategic tools. The Forces of Change experience has been called the equivalent of "required reading" for the health care executive.

In addition to the capstone April program, there will be a series of four virtual web seminars on the following important topics:

• Changing the Medical Model of Care: New Systems, Improved Quality and Efficiency - November 8, 2006
• Workforce Effectiveness: Helping the Health Care Industry Get Ready for the Future - December 6, 2006
• Leveraging Technology to Drive Patient-Centric Health Care: The Role of the Personal Health Record - February 7, 2007
• The Convergence of Physical and Financial Health - March 7, 2007

The Harvard School of Public Health, Center for Continuing Professional Education's (CCPE) programs focus on strengthening health professionals' competencies in response to their identified needs in health policy and management, occupational safety and environmental health, individual and community health, quantitative methods, and institutional leadership. For more than two decades our executive education, training programs, and conferences have earned a reputation among mid- and senior-level health professionals as the place where theory informs practice and practice informs theory.

CCPE offers a variety of programs in a number of formats: executive courses, seminars, conferences, customized courses, off-site programs, grant-funded projects, and self-study projects. Faculty members are drawn predominantly from the Harvard University system, complemented by a cadre of talented practitioner instructors. For information about other executive education programs, visit: www.hsph.harvard.edu/ccpe.