Increasingly, health information technology (HIT) is at the forefront of public and private sector efforts to improve healthcare safety, quality and efficiency. Clear and compelling evidence has emerged demonstrating that HIT can play a critical role in addressing the challenges faced by the U.S. healthcare system. The Federal government, Congress, a number of states, and private sector leaders at the national, state and regional level have responded with the introduction of a myriad of policies and strategies designed to improve the quality, safety and efficiency of healthcare through information technology.

In June 2005, Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt announced the creation of a private-public sector collaboration-the American Health Information Community (AHIC)--and four related Requests for Proposals to fast-forward work related to privacy and security, standards harmonization, certification, and architecture, all of which are required to improve the nation's healthcare system.

In addition to the significant announcements outlined above, the Administration has several programs underway within AHRQ, CDC, CMS, NLM, and ONCHIT to conduct research, gain consensus on standards and practices, perform demonstration programs, fund grants and contracts, and provide education and assistance to stakeholders to support the improvement of health and healthcare through HIT.

Congress is also playing a significant leadership role-bi-partisan support of the use of HIT to improve healthcare has snowballed in recent weeks. In June, three bills were introduced in the Senate that included components related to HIT, including the Senate Health Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee's Health Information Technology Quality and Improvement Act of 2005; the Senate Finance Committee's Medicare Value Purchasing Act of 2005, and the Health Technology to Enhance Quality Act of 2005 introduced by Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R-TN) and Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-NY).

The private sector has also demonstrated significant leadership with the emergence of several initiatives and programs designed to improve healthcare through HIT:

• The rapid expansion in state, regional and community-based health information exchange organizations and initiatives as summarized in the eHealth Initiative's Annual Connecting Communities for Better Health survey;
• The rapid emergence of several employer and health plan sponsored incentives programs that include HIT, such as Bridges to Excellence;
• Connecting for Health's June 2005 announcement of the first-ever prototype of an electronic national health information exchange based on common, open standards;
• The recent emergence of the Ambulatory Care Quality Alliance, led by AHRQ, AAFP, ACP and AHIP and America's Health Insurance Plans, and its May 2005 announcement of having reached consensus on a uniform starter set of 26 clinical performance measures;

The Health Information Technology Summit is designed to provide participants with both high-level primer, and a detailed discussion of the many policies emerging from the Administration, Congress, national private sector leaders, and states across the U.S. around the intersection of healthcare challenges with the use of HIT.

• Policy changes in the Medicare and Medicaid programs that will accelerate the adoption of HIT to address goals around healthcare quality, safety and efficiency;
• Policy goals and strategies introduced in a series of legislation introduced by the House and the Senate and prospects and expectations of action during the remainder of the year;
• Financial incentives programs emerging in many parts of the U.S. which are sponsored by purchasers, business coalitions, health plans, and Medicare;
• Health plan, purchaser, and public sector payer experiences in leveraging HIT for chronic care and disease management programs;
• Strategies for HIT adoption utilized by state policy-makers in their role as purchaser, payer and regulator;
• Real-world experiences of leaders who are building multi-stakeholder collaborations in states, regions and communities across the U.S. to speed adoption of HIT and health information exchange to support patient care.

Both an overview or "101" as well as an in-depth view of the policies that are emerging nationally and at the state and local levels will be explored by well-recognized leaders in the field. The Summit will provide a valuable opportunity to interact with hundreds of public and private sector healthcare leaders "in the know" and enable participants to assess the impact of many, many rapidly emerging healthcare and HIT policies on healthcare delivery and operations in every sector of healthcare.

The Summit will be comprised of a set of plenary sessions featuring federal agency heads, global leaders, and a panel of Congressional staff including those from the Senate Finance, Senate HELP, Senate Budget, and House Committees, who are very engaged in healthcare's intersection with HIT. The Summit will also feature some of the "best and brightest" leaders in the field, who are pioneering the development and implementation of policies to pave the way for the rest of the country.

A series of break-out sessions have been organized around key topic areas that align with emerging policy at the national and state levels:

• Financial Incentives, Pay for Performance and "Value-Based Purchasing": Intersection with HIT
• Emerging State Policies Related to HIT: State Role as Purchaser, Payer, Regulator and Convener
• Rapidly Emerging Medicare and Medicaid Policies and Inclusion of Critical HIT Components
• Health Information Sharing: Legal and Policy Issues
• Special Shared Session with the HIPAA Summit: Implementation of the National Provider Identifier