July 20 - 23, 2004
"The Secretarial Summit on Health Information Technology launching the National
Health Information Infrastructure 2004: Cornerstones for Electronic Healthcare"
(conference materials available at
NHII 04 Conference
website [includes pre-conference draft papers] or the
NHII website)"
August 7, 2003
NCVHS Workgroup for the NHII, Executive Subcommittee Agenda
September 22, 2004
Dr. Yasnoff, HHS Senior Advisor for health informatics policy,
talks about "Research Needs for the National Health Information Infrastructure"
[given at the University of Illinois at Chicago, HIM Distinguished Lecture Series; audio & video, 94 minutes]
September 7-11, 2004
The
American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) hosted the premier
health informatics conference in San Francisco: Medinfo
2004.Since 1974 the international informatics community has assembled the industry's
leaders once every three years to put on Medinfo, the World
Congress on Medical Informatics. David J. Brailer, M.D.,
Ph.D., the National Coordinator for Health Information
Technology at the Department of Health and Human Services
(DHHS), was a Keynote speaker before 3,000 attendees.
Additionally, William
A. Yasnoff, M.D., Ph.D., FACMIchaired and participated in a
Panel called a multi-national perspective on the development
of national health information infrastructure. Dr.
Yasnoff, a noted expert in medical informatics, is the Senior
Advisor at DHHS advising on health informatics policy. The Panel
participants included Dr. Yasnoff (U.S.); Myrna
Francis, Ph.D.
(Canada); Branko Cesnik, M.B.B.S., M.D., FACHI,
(Australia); Janet Marchibroda,
Chief Executive Officer, eHealth Initiative and Executive Director
of its Foundation (U.S.); Richard Granger, Director
General, National Health Services (U.K.); and Don E. Detmer, M.D.,
M.A. (an international expert on health information infrastructure
in both the U.S. and U.K.). The representatives from
each country provided descriptions of their health information
infrastructure (HII) activities, progress, and plans. The panel focused on the
development of a universal HII that provides immediate anywhere,
anytime access to complete healthcare information for patient
care. With the growing body of evidence demonstrating the
inability of paper-based records to assure safety, quality, and
efficiency of care, an increased urgency for the development of
such infrastructures has resulted.However, successful
large-scale HII implementation is a complex and challenging task
involving political, organizational, and behavioral obstacles in
addition to serious technical issues.Each nation is taking a
somewhat different approach to these problems. Since no country at the
present time has fully completed the development of its HII, while
many have committed substantial financial resources to these
activities, it is essential that every opportunity to exchange
information and share lessons learned should be utilized including
the development and adoption of national and international
standards to support these efforts.
July 20-23, 2004 The Secretarial Summit on Health Information Technology launching the
National Health Information Infrastructure 2004: Cornerstones for Electronic
Healthcare was well attended by over 1,500 people representing the
private and public healthcare industry. In challenging both sectors of the
healthcare industry, Secretary Tommy G. Thompson stated, "Health information
technology can improve quality of care and reduce medical errors, even as
it lowers administrative costs. It has the potential to produce savings of
10 percent of our total annual spending on health care, even as it improves
care for patients and provides new support for health care professionals."
A report, titled
"The Decade
of Health Information Technology: Delivering Consumer-centric and
Information-rich Health Care", ordered by President George W. Bush in
April, was presented on July 21st by David Brailer, the National Coordinator
for Health Information Technology, whom the president appointed to the new
position in May. The report lays out the broad steps needed to achieve
always-current, always-available electronic health records (EHR) for Americans.
This responds to the call by President Bush to achieve EHRs for most Americans
within a decade. The report identifies goals and action areas, as well as
a broad sequence needed to achieve the goals, with joint private/public
cooperation and leadership. For more about the news coverage on the conference,
please link to the following sites: HHS
Fact Sheet-HIT Report at-a-glance 7/21/04: http://www.hhs.gov/news/press/2004pres/20040721.html NY
Times 7/21/04: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/21/technology/21record.html GovExec.com
7/21/04: http://www.governmentexecutive.com/dailyfed/0704/072104dk1.htm Center
for Health Transformation 7/21/04: http://www.healthtransformation.net/news/chtnews.asp iHealthbeat
7/26/04: http://www.ihealthbeat.org/index.cfm?Action=dspItem&itemid=104473 USNews.com
8/2/04: http://www.usnews.com/usnews/tech/articles/040802/2wired.htm
May 6, 2004
At the Health Information Technology Summit on May 6, HHS Secretary Tommy
G. Thompson announced the appointment of David J. Brailer, MD, PhD as the
first National Health Information Technology Coordinator. The new position,
created by President Bush in April, will coordinate the nation's health
information technology efforts. Dr. Brailer is one of the nation's foremost
authorities on clinical data sharing, local health information exchanges,
and the use of the peer-to-peer technologies in health care. He is recognized
as a leader in the strategy and financing of quality and efficiency in health
care, with a particular emphasis on health information technology and health
systems management.
The Willard Hotel, Washington, D.C.
Secretary's Speech
at the "Health Information Technology Summit"
January 20, 2004
Strategies for Creating Successful Local Health Information Infrastructure
Initiatives Full Report (PDF)
Nancy M. Lorenzi, PhD.
Vanderbilt University
Department of Biomedical Informatics
MEETINGS
a
conference sponsored by the Department of Health and Human
Services (