OTTAWA, ONTARIO -- (Marketwire) -- 06/01/12 -- What: National Health Leadership Conference 2012, Leading the best: New ideas, new thinking

When: Monday, June 4, 2012, from 9:15 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (Opening ceremonies at 8:30 a.m., and Tuesday, June 5, 2012, from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. ADT.)

Where: World Trade and Convention Centre, 1800 Argyle Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia

Health system leadership that stimulates and implements new thinking can make the difference between improved patient experiences and health outcomes, and a system that struggles merely to maintain the status quo. What factors drive how innovative ideas and technologies in health are generated and disseminated? This question will be the focus of the National Health Leadership Conference, on June 4 and 5, 2012, in Halifax, Nova Scotia.

Hosted by the Canadian College of Health Leaders and the Canadian Healthcare Association, this annual conference is the largest national gathering of health system leaders in Canada, with more than 700 health leaders expected in Halifax. This year's theme, Leading the best: New ideas, new thinking, celebrates the creative and innovative solutions being developed by Canada's health leaders and policy-makers.

Plenary speakers, concurrent sessions, workshops, and poster projects will challenge participants to reflect on how they nurture much-needed creative thinking and appropriate risk taking to the advantage of all stakeholders in the health system.

Speakers include:

--  Maureen Bisognano, President and CEO, Institute for Healthcare
    Improvement, discusses Leadership for the Next Millennium - Creativity,
    Innovation and Quality on Monday, June 4, 09:15 - 10:30


--  Jeffrey Simpson, The Globe and Mail's National Affairs Columnist, and
    Greg Marchildon Professor and Canada Research Chair in Public Policy and
    Economic History (Tier 1), Johnson-Shoyama Graduate School of Public
    Policy, debate the role of innovation in the health system of the future
    in Innovate or Stagnate? Steve Paikin of TVO's The Agenda with Steve
    Paikin, moderates this discussion on Tuesday, June 5, 09:00 - 10:30.


--  Drawing on his own experience while founding The Second Cup, Frank
    O'Dea, celebrated entrepreneur and humanitarian and Founding Chair of
    AGSI Global, introduces the powerful theory and practical applications
    of Blue Ocean Strategy on Tuesday, June 5, 15:45 - 16:45

Presenter biographies, concurrent session and poster project abstracts can be found at http://www.nhlc-cnls.ca. Follow us on Twitter @NHLC2012 and #NHLC2012.