Excerpts from the announcement of the Summit: eHealth Developers' Summit 2001
eHealth Institute
November 14-16, 2001 Aptos, CA
Convened by the nonprofit eHealth Institute, the Developers' Summit is the only national meeting that is solely focused on issues of importance to eHealth application developers.
Objectives: The eHealth Developers' Summit seeks to catalyze the sustainable development, adoption, and dissemination of effective eHealth tools by leveraging the collective expertise and vision of the most respected eHealth developers in the world. The Summit will:
1. Identify solutions for sustainable development and implementation of effective eHealth applications; 2. Enhance communication and collaboration among developers and other stakeholders; and 3. Provide a unique networking opportunity that fosters business relationships and collaborations among developers from commercial entities, academia, government and the nonprofit sector.
Invitation Only Attendance is by invitation only and limited to about 100 people. Invitees are chosen on the basis of their direct involvement in eHealth development and their potential impact on the field. Institutions that will be represented at the Summit include technology and health-related corporations, small businesses, academic institutions, health care organizations, investors, foundations, non-profit organizations, government agencies, and health care purchasers and payers.
Access a Detailed agenda for the meeting: Log in to the eHealth Summit 2001 Participants Only Site Provide your Email Address & Password
Participant directory: Log in to the eHealth Summit 2001 Participants Only Site Provide your Email Address & Password
<http://www.ehealthinstitute.org/summit/index.cfm>http://www.ehealthinstitute.org/summit/index.cfm
Comment: eHealth Institute is a private, charitable organization with a mission of seeking to "explore ways to use emerging information and communication technologies to improve the health and well being of all people, including the underserved."
Inevitably, information technology will play a very major role in the future of our health care system. The industry is rapidly developing innovations that will bring us significant improvements in efficiency, error reduction, communication, quality enhancement, and other benefits of health care applications. The problem is that the private sector is designing systems that will maximize their access to the $1.4 trillion dedicated to health care today. If you believe that private health plans have been draining funds that should go to patient care, just wait until you see what this industry has in mind.
A very important summit on this topic is now being held, as the excerpts from the announcement above indicate. The secrecy of both the agenda and the list of invited-only attendees brings back unpleasant memories of the secret sessions during the planning of the failed Clinton health care reform proposal.
It is essential that such summits be held. But it is also essential that eHealth be developed in an environment that encourages value while enhancing our health care system, rather than an environment that is designed to develop methods of diverting funds away from patient care. It is essential that public policies in health care information technology be developed immediately, and that the NIH be enlisted to supervise the development of the technology in the public domain. Only with that approach can we be assured that we will be receiving value for our investment.
Those who believe that a public process will stifle technological development must also accept the belief that this industry will walk away from their rightful share of a $1.4 trillion health care budget. They will see to it that they get their share, and the public will see to it that we receive value.