Welcome to the 2013 Annual Research Meeting! We’re blogging from Baltimore as we join researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to kick off the premier forum for health services research. This year’s ARM is an exciting one for us — we received 20 percent more abstracts submissions than ever, and with more than 2,600 attendees, this is also our biggest ARM to date — thank you for being a part of it! To add to the excitement, it’s our 30th Annual Research Meeting. We are celebrating with a series of special sessions on how far the field has come over the past 30 years and emerging research that will shape our future. Though today kicks off the official meeting, more than 500 people participated in yesterday’s Methods Seminars and Interest Group meetings, sharing emerging research findings in specialized areas. If you haven’t stopped at registration yet, be sure to pick up all of your meeting materials in the Baltimore Convention Center’s Charles Street Lobby. We’ll be open from 7:00 a.m.-6:00 p.m. today and Monday, and 7:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. on Tuesday. We’re looking forward to a few highlights on day one: Opening Plenary: Will the Civil War over Health Reform Ever End? 12:45-2:15 p.m. | Ballroom Policy experts will discuss whether the deep divisions in the policies parties over the Affordable Care Act will diminish in the years ahead and whether there can be bipartisan efforts to improve the healthcare system.  Experts include Robert Blendon, Whit Ayres, and Anna Greenberg. 30th Anniversary Special Session What a Long Way We’ve Come: Methods to Inform Policy and Practice Chair: Bryan Dowd, University of Minnesota We’re commemorating the ARM’s 30th Anniversary with a special session on how HSR methods have evolved over the past 30 years. Panelists Ashish Jha, Mark McClellan, and Partha Deb will share their perspective. Innovation Station 7:00 a.m.-7:00 p.m. | Room 311 Visit the Innovation Station to access new tools, resources, and mobile applications for health services research. Experts will be available throughout the day for various technology and data resource presentations. Welcome Reception 6:00-6:45 p.m. | Hilton Baltimore, Key 4 Those attending ARM for the first time are invited to this informal reception with AcademyHealth leaders. Opening Reception 6:30-8:30 p.m. | Hilton Baltimore, Key 7-12 For those of you who have been to an ARM before, join us for the opening reception. We’ll be providing session summaries throughout the meeting — with some help from our class of 2013 Presidential Scholars. Don’t forget to connect with us on Twitter (official hashtag: #arm13). We look forward to seeing you in the session rooms and we hope you enjoy the 30th Annual Research Meeting.

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