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News release: NationalJuly 28, 2005
National Leader for Health Information Technology Speaks at Kaiser Permanente Conference First Meeting of Users of Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect Electronic Medical Records System [Oakland, CA]—The National Coordinator for Health Information Technology for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Dr. David Brailer, MD, PhD, is the kick off keynote speaker for the first annual KP HealthConnect Users’ Conference. Appointed by President George W. Bush in May of last year, Dr. Brailer heads up the administration’s national effort to improve the quality of healthcare while decreasing costs by promoting the widespread adoption of interoperable health information technology (health IT). Dr. Brailer has been charged with achieving the President’s vision for health IT, specifically that most Americans will be able to use a personal electronic health record within 10 years. During his keynote address, Dr. Brailer will provide an update on the national plan for health information technology adoption and describe the recent initiatives that were announced by Secretary of Health and Human Services, Mike Leavitt earlier this Spring on health IT. He will also talk about how using personal and electronic health records empowers consumers to make better treatment decisions and will highlight some of Kaiser Permanente’s accomplishments as a leading champion of health information technology. The KP HealthConnect User’s Conference will be held at the Oakland Convention Center on August 2-4, 2005. The conference will be a learning forum where over 400 Kaiser Permanente physicians, nurses, information technology professionals and operations managers alike can share tips, techniques and innovations in the use of the KP HealthConnect system. In addition, the conference will showcase opportunities for improving patient safety, service and care quality through the use of EHRs.
Following his speech, Dr. Brailer, Dr. Louise Liang and Dr. Andy Wiesenthal will be available for one-on-one media interviews. Appointments scheduled upon request. Dr. Liang is Kaiser Permanente’s Senior Vice President for Quality and Clinical Systems Support at Kaiser Permanente on a national level. Dr. Wiesenthal is Associate Executive Director of the Permanente Federation (the umbrella organization of Permanente physicians). He began his work with clinical information systems in KP’s Colorado region with an early version of an EMR system. Drs. Liang and Wiesenthal jointly head up Kaiser Permanente HealthConnect, the $3 billion electronic medical records system moving toward full implementation in 2006. Biographies of Drs. Liang and Wiesenthal are available, as well as fact sheets on KP HealthConnect and a history of Kaiser Permanente’s work with electronic medical record-keeping, which dates to the 1960’s and an early computer system used by researchers in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente is America’s leading integrated health plan. Founded in 1945, it is a nonprofit, group practice prepayment program with headquarters in Oakland, California. Kaiser Permanente serves the health care needs of 8.2 million members in 9 states and the District of Columbia. Today it encompasses the not-for-profit Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc., Kaiser Foundation Hospitals and their subsidiaries, and the for-profit Permanente Medical Groups. Nationwide, Kaiser Permanente includes approximately 140,000
technical, administrative and clerical employees and caregivers,
and more than 11,000 physicians representing all specialties.
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