Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology

Articles: DMICE Partner in Health IT Week

In June, members of the OHSU Department of Medical Informatics & Clinical Epidemiology will join approximately 30 other visionary organizations traveling to Washington, D.C. to participate in the inaugural National Health IT Week (June 5-9, 2006). National Health IT Week will consist of two conferences, bridged by a special National Health IT Day. DMICE Chair Dr. William Hersh has been designated a spokesperson for National Health IT Day on June 7th along with Dr. Carolyn Clancy, Director of the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality; Stephen Lieber, President of HIMSS; and Charlene Underwood, representing the EHR Vendors Association.

National Health IT Week is the nation’s first fully collaborative forum where public and private sector organizations will unite to foster widespread health IT adoption through ‘One Voice, One Vision.’ A coalition of IT stakeholder organizations and health care professional groups have come together to create this annual event.

The week is expected to attract more than 2,500 industry, healthcare, and health consumer representatives.  A cornerstone of the week, National Health IT Day (June 7, Renaissance Washington, D.C. Hotel), immediately precedes the opening of HIMSS Summit 2006 and features an opening keynote presentation by Newt Gingrich, Former Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives and Founder, Center for Health Transformation and a separate keynote address by Carolyn Clancy, MD and Director for the Agency for Healthcare Research & Quality (AHRQ). Myrl Weinberg, president of the National Health Council, will deliver the closing keynote.

The keynote presentations will be enriched by two panel discussions. The first will examine “Driving Down Healthcare Costs – Purchasers Who Are Innovating” and will feature senior executives from Pitney Bowes, IBM, General Motors and UPS.  The second will focus on the perspective of “Leaders from the Field” and will include the views of RHIOs, physicians and providers/hospitals.

Collaborative activities throughout National Health IT Week consist of individually planned and hosted conferences or meetings. Together, the week’s unique combination of public and private sector events elevate national attention on the necessity for health IT adoption. Events during National Health IT Week include the 2006 AHRQ Annual Conference on Patient Safety & Health IT and HIMSS Summit 2006.

The past year has yielded several milestones for health IT including the creation of the American Health Information Community (AHIC) and the awarding of key government contracts to establish a market for nationwide interoperability.  Furthermore, according to a research study conducted by Datamonitor earlier this year, healthcare providers will spend as much as $39.5 billion on information technology by 2008. National Health IT Week will build on these developments and further the discussion and actions needed to achieve national healthcare transformation for the purpose of improved patient safety and cost efficiency.

DMICE is proud to support National Health IT Week, and we hope to see you in Washington in June.