HIT Summit Overview Attention to the use of information technology in health care is intensifying rapidly, with President George W. Bush calling for widespread adoption of electronic medical records (EMRs) within the next ten years. In addition to digitizing the information that providers use to care for their patients within organizations; clinicians, patients, and policymakers are looking ahead to securely sharing appropriate information electronically among organizations. The combination of this past year’s activities has proved to be a catalyst in advancing the development of industry standards for interoperability, enabling the flow of clinical and administrative data among key stakeholders, and demonstrating its importance for encouraging health care IT investment and facilitating health care reform.

The Federal government, Congress, a number of states, and private sector leaders at the national, state and regional levels 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.

According to a report issued by the eHealth Initiative on July 17, 2006, over half of the states in the U.S. are either initiating planning as a result of state legislation or an executive order or have planning well under-way related to health information technology (HIT) adoption or health information exchange. And an additional seven states are in the process of implementation.

The report highlights a recent rapidly emerging phenomenon—the role of state leaders in planning, coordinating and implementing policy and practices related to the use of HIT for improving health and healthcare. The full survey report will be released in September in conjunction with the Third Annual Health Information Technology Summit, Sept. 25-27 in Washington, D.C.

This year, the Summit, co-hosted by the eHealth Initiative and Bridges to Excellence, will convene a National Assembly of State Leaders Focused on Improving Health and Healthcare through HIT and Health Information Exchange, who will share insights, learn from one another and advance the policy agenda for the nation.

The Summit will also include an in-depth look at rapidly emerging policy changes related to both quality and HIT, touching on financial, clinical quality, organizational, legal, technical, and privacy-related issues.

The Health Information Technology Summit is designed to provide participants with the latest intelligence on and an in-depth look at rapidly emerging policy changes related to both quality and HIT from the Administration, Congress, national private sector leaders, and states across the U.S.

• Policy changes in the Federal government programs, including those emerging from AHRQ, CMS, ONC, and OPM, that will accelerate the adoption of HIT to address healthcare quality, safety and efficiency goals;
• Policy goals and strategies introduced in legislation introduced by the House and the Senate, and prospects and expectations of action during the remainder of 2006 and into 2007;
• Financial incentive programs emerging in many parts of the U.S. which are sponsored by purchasers, business coalitions, health plans, and Medicare;
• Provider, health plan, purchaser, and public sector payer strategies for improving quality and efficiency in healthcare through HIT;
• Strategies for HIT adoption utilized by state policy-makers in their roles 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.

The HIT Summit will be comprised of a set of plenary sessions featuring private sector leaders from every sector of healthcare, federal agency heads, and a panel of Congressional staff, including those from the Senate Finance, Senate HELP, Senate Budget, and House Committees, who are very engaged in improving the quality of healthcare through HIT. The HIT 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.

• Providers: CEOs, CIOs, COOs, CFOs, CMOs, CMIOs, CNOs, CTOs, SVPs, VPs and directors of information technology and clinical information systems; leaders in eHealth and telemedicine, practicing clinicians and other key stakeholders from hospitals, health systems, physician groups, home healthcare, specialty care centers.
• Private and Public Payers: CEOs, COOs, CIOs, CFOs, CMOs, SVPs and VPs of marketing from health plans and insurers; Medicare and Medicaid officials; agency directors and administrators.
• Government and public policy makers, Federal, state and regional regulators, policy-makers, political leaders, legislative aids focused on healthcare, international and domestic health leaders.
• Suppliers and HIT Integrators, CEOs, COOs, CIOs, CTOs, CFOs, senior executives in health information technology, medical device, pharmaceutical, biotechnology and emerging healthcare companies.
• IT and management consultants.
• Investors.
• Health care analysts and academics, policy analysts, economists, industry consultants.
• Press, including healthcare and IT trade publications, state and local press, and national media outlets interested in healthcare policy.

The eHealth Initiative is a multi-stakeholder consortium of clinician groups, health plans, healthcare purchasers, HIT suppliers, hospitals and other providers, laboratory and pharmacy groups, pharmaceutical and device manufacturers, and patient groups—who reach common ground on policies and strategies to drive improvements in the health and healthcare of Americans, by leveraging information technology.

The eHealth Initiative Foundation, through various programs in partnerships with federal and state government and philanthropies, provides seed funding and support to state, regional and community-based multi-stakeholder collaborations who are engaged in health information exchange to support health and healthcare.

For more information go to www.ehealthinitiative.org.