At the symposium, a policy roundtable discussion among senior officials provided the opportunity for a candid exchange of views on pressing issues, including health care quality, health system sustainability, patient choice, and manpower priorities. Participating were Carolyn Clancy, M.D., director of the U.S. Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; Pete Hodgson, New Zealand's minister of health; Sir Liam Donaldson, U.K. chief medical officer; Canada's Ian Shugart, senior assistant deputy minister; Philip Davies, deputy secretary of the Australian Department of Health and Ageing; and Peter T. Sawicki, M.D., director of Germany's Institute for Quality and Efficiency in Health Care.

On the last day of the symposium, participants discussed how the U.S. might learn from the policy and health care delivery innovations tried in other countries. Held on Capitol Hill in cooperation with the Alliance for Health Reform, the session highlighted national hospital quality benchmarking in Germany, patient safety initiatives, and pay-for-performance strategies in the U.K.

Commissioned papers presented at the symposium will be submitted to Health Affairs as part of its series of international Web Exclusive articles. The symposium is cosponsored by Health Affairs, in collaboration with founding editor John Iglehart.