FROM THE FOUNDATION

Big Business, Little Data

A growing number of Californians are being sent to ambulatory surgery centers for a wide variety of procedures, yet little is known about the care they deliver because reporting is not required.

Keeping Track of Asthma

CHCF has made a second investment in Asthmapolis, a device that tracks asthma inhaler use and reports data through mobile phones to patients and doctors to better manage the disease.

Consumer Information

Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Health 2.0 Focuses on Health IT Innovation, Curbing Health Costs

The future of the U.S. health care system depends on health IT innovators finding ways to control health care costs, according to Mark Smith, president and CEO of the California HealthCare Foundation, InformationWeek reports. CHCF publishes iHealthBeat.

Smith spoke during this week's Health 2.0 Conference in San Francisco (Versel, InformationWeek, 9/27).

Smith's Address

During his keynote speech, Smith said that health IT is maturing and that policy supporting health IT initiatives is evolving.

However, he noted that certain obstacles are impeding further advancements in health IT, such as:

  • The current health care culture;
  • Payment regulations; and
  • Rising health care costs.

According to Smith, health IT innovators seeking to address rising health care costs could focus on:

  • Enrolling uninsured residents in health plans;
  • Facilitating rapid learning for health care providers; and
  • Making the health care system more convenient for patients (Enrado, Healthcare IT News, 9/27).

Other Health 2.0 Happenings

Also during the conference, several organizations announced plans for new products and services. For example:



Readers are also invited to send feedback to: ihb@chcf.org
Click to register for iHealthBeat