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eHealth Institute Convenes National Summit on Future of eHealth Application Development

Aptos, Calif. -- An invited group of respected national leaders in eHealth development, convened by the nonprofit eHealth Institute (www.ehealthinstitute.org), will address the current state of and future prospects for eHealth applications at a national summit beginning today at Seascape Resort in Aptos, Calif.

The eHealth Developers' Summit, the only national meeting solely focused on eHealth application development issues, will continue through this Friday, November 16. The intensive, invitation-only meeting of more than 120 peer executives, seeks to catalyze the sustainable development, adoption, and dissemination of effective eHealth tools and products by leveraging the collective expertise and vision of leading eHealth experts and innovators. About 100 key technology and health-related corporations, start-ups, academic institutions, health care organizations, investors, foundations, non-profit organizations, and government agencies will be represented at the Summit.

Prominent eHealth leaders scheduled to speak at the Summit include Mark Leavitt, Chairman of the Board, Medscape; Richard Noffsinger, Worldwide Healthcare Group Manager, Microsoft; David Brailer, Chairman and CEO, CareScience; Mark J. Roman, General Manager, IBM Global Healthcare Solutions; and Luis Barros, Manager, e-Lilly Venture Fund.

eHealth is the use of emerging information and communication technology, especially the Internet, to improve or enable health and health care. Emerging information and communication technologies promise to usher in a wealth of innovative solutions for seemingly intractable problems in health and health care, including quality, access, and cost.

According to Dr. Tom Eng, Chair of the Summit and President of the eHealth Institute: "The recent downturn in the capital markets, especially for technology companies, has created a substantial vacuum in eHealth leadership. The Summit will identify potential solutions for sustainable eHealth development, enhance communication among developers, and foster business relationships and collaborations among developers from commercial entities, academia, government, and the nonprofit sector."

"Clinical usage of new, highly functional, easy-to-use healthcare applications will double or even triple in the coming months now that the healthcare industry has realized and accepted the need for open standards. The prediction of e-business enhancing healthcare delivery and quality is coming true in spades. The eHealth Institute and Developers' Summit provides a forum for exchange and collaboration among industry leaders to accelerate this growth," said Mark Roman, general manager, IBM Global Healthcare solutions.

Major questions to be tackled by Summit participants include:

• How has the recent downturn of Internet and other technology companies impacted eHealth development and investment? What lessons can be garnered from the "bubble" period? What are the key indicators of success and failure?
  
• How can barriers to widespread dissemination and adoption of eHealth tools among consumers, providers, health plans, and others be overcome?
• What types of eHealth applications are needed but not currently being addressed? How can various stakeholders (e.g., technology companies, health care companies, academia, government agencies) exchange expertise and resources to address priority areas?
• What is the role for standards, open source software, or public domain approaches to eHealth development? What changes (e.g., structural changes, incentives, funding) are needed to jumpstart and sustain such approaches?
• What is the near-term outlook for eHealth investment/funding? What are the key characteristics that purchasers/investors/funders look for in an eHealth company or product?

Sponsors of the Summit include The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; California HealthCare Foundation; National Cancer Institute; WK Kellogg Foundation; Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, US Department of Health and Human Services; and Kaiser Permanente.

The discussions at the Summit will build on the eHealth report recently released by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, The eHealth Landscape: A Terrain Map of Emerging Information and Communication Technologies in Health and Health Care (available at: http://www.rwjf.org/app/rw_publications_and_links/publicationsPdfs/eHealth.pdf).

More information about the eHealth Developers' Summit, including a detailed agenda, is available at: http://www.ehealthinstitute.org/summit/.

About the eHealth Institute

The eHealth Institute (www.ehealthinstitute.org) is a private, charitable nonprofit organization that seeks to explore ways to use emerging information and communication technologies, especially the Internet, to improve the health and well being of all people, including the underserved. The Institute's mission is to 1) Enhance the capacity of people to access and utilize eHealth resources, 2) Improve the state of knowledge and public understanding of eHealth-related issues, and 3) Improve the quality and effectiveness of eHealth resources.