213220 Patient-Centered Care Enabled by HIT: How Our System for Providing Care Must Change

Tuesday, November 10, 2009: 3:30 PM

Eva Powell, MSW , Director, Health Information Technology Project, National Partnership for Women and Families, Washington, DC
  
This presentation will discuss how an electronically connected health care system has the potential to engage patients as active participants in their own care, improve clinical decision making and processes, reduce medical errors, and reduce the growth in health care costs. The issues to making this a reality will be evaluated and the importance of engaging a diverse group of national consumer, patient and labor organizations in the HIT policy debate will be assessed.

Learning Objectives:
1. Discuss the potential benefits of HIT to patients. 2. Evaluate the efforts that would need to be taken to engage patients as active participants in their own care, using HIT.

Keywords: Patient Education, Information Technology

Presenting author's disclosure statement:

Qualified on the content I am responsible for because: I worked for ten years in a large, tertiary teaching hospital as a social worker and understand very well the realities of our current health care system that prevent patients from receiving the care they need and deserve – in spite of often heroic efforts on the part of health professionals. For six years after my hospital experience I worked for the federally designated quality improvement organization in the state of NC consulting with hospitals and physician practices on how to improve care through process change. Since 2007 I have worked at the National Partnership, a Washington-based consumer advocacy organization focused on creating a truly patient-centered health care system. My role includes leading the Consumer Partnership for eHealth, a coalition of consumer, patient, and labor groups in driving adoption of patient-centered HIT through policy development.
Any relevant financial relationships? No

I agree to comply with the American Public Health Association Conflict of Interest and Commercial Support Guidelines, and to disclose to the participants any off-label or experimental uses of a commercial product or service discussed in my presentation.

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