JON KUMIN: .....Commissioner Joel Gilbertson who's joining us via teleconference this morning. Commissioner, are you there?

COMMISSIONER JOEL GILBERTSON: I'm still here.

MR. KUMIN: Everybody hear that okay? Good. Unfortunately, his flight couldn't make it out of Juneau. The road wouldn't have made any difference. So he's not able to be with us in person this morning.

We've also had Ed Lamb who was going to join us from Alaska Regional had an emergency and won't be here. We do have a very, very good panel with all the distribution from different sectors. We've asked them here today to discuss some key issues that we've been talking about in our health care study group.

I see you looking around the room, many of you are members of that study group. It's been meeting since the end of September and has been moving along nicely. It has heard from a myriad of resource people. And the group has started to analyze all of the information it's received. I think co- chairs, Marvin Swink and Dr. Tom Nighswander are really doing a great job in keeping that moving.

I would like members of the study group to stand so we can acknowledge all the work you're doing. There's been a lot of 7:00 a.m. meeting, folks. Could you stand, those who have been working on that? Thank you. (Applause)

The work really is appreciated and we're hopeful we're going to be able to identify some things that we can do here in Alaska to help with our health care issues. We are still seeking underwriting support for the support, so if you're interested please see Duane or Tana following the program. We'd like to thank those that have already committed to supporting the project; Providence Health System, Dorsey & Whitney, the Alaska Railroad and the AARP.

Without further delay let me introduce your head table. From left it'll be -- I'll start with say your left my right, Al Parrish. Al is vice president and chief executive of Providence Health System, also a Commonwealth North member and participating in the study group.

Next to him is Randall Burns, director of the Alaska Small Hospital Performance Improvement Network, which is a division of the Alaska State Hospital and Nursing Home Association.

Next to Randall is Dr. David Snyder, chief operations officer for the Alaska Native Medical Center, a member of Commonwealth North and also a participant in the study group. It's really a very, very good group.

And with us on the phone is Commissioner Joel Gilbertson. Commissioner, could we once again verify you're with us?

COMMISSIONER GILBERTSON: Still here.

MR. KUMIN: Thank you. Here's how we'll proceed this morning. We've submitted several topics to the participants ahead of time. We'll describe each topic and rotate among the panelists as to who will be first. Then any of the panelists can add their viewpoint if they wish. After covering the topics we'll then ask questions submitted by the audience.

What we hope to do is hold the comments initially to three to five minutes. We very much enjoy and value the interplay between the audience and the panelists. And we think the opportunity for people to ask questions really enhances the dialogue that we have at these forums so we're going to try to do that.

So I guess to go ahead and jump right in without further delay I'm going to start with the Commissioner.