Many Americans enjoy access to the very best that medical knowledge and medical technology can offer, but our health care delivery system is riddled with inefficiency, quality is uneven, and roughly half of all patients do not receive recommended care. One of the most critical steps towards improving our health care system and garnering better value for our health care spending is to change how we deliver health care in ways that improve patient outcomes, lower costs, and improve health care productivity. Health information technology can play a significant role in this transformation.
To explore how health IT applications and the data analysis that health IT enables can improve health care quality and productivity, the Center for American Progress will host a discussion featuring a leading policymaker, health care quality experts, and public program managers. Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI) will open the event with his perspective on the role of health IT in health care quality improvement. Following Whitehouse’s remarks, Karen Davenport will provide an overview of CAP’s policy recommendations for enhancing the use of health IT. Dr. Mark Carroll will discuss the Indian Health Service’s efforts to build health IT capacity and infrastructure within a major public sector health program, and provide a preview of the IHS’s efforts to use health IT to improve population health. Finally, Gerald Shea will provide his insights on quality measures and quality reporting, and how health IT can enable these efforts.
Keynote Speaker:
Senator Sheldon Whitehouse (D-RI)
Panelists:
Karen Davenport, Director of Health Policy, Center for American Progress
Gerald Shea, Assistant to the President, AFL-CIO
Mark Carroll, M.D., Director of Telemedicine, Indian Health Service