Partnerships for Networked Consumer Health Information
April 14-16, 1997
Georgetown University Conference Center
Washington, DC
March 19, 1997
Contacts: Rosie Dempsey 202-832-4633
Mary Jo Deering 202-260-2652
Gateway Site to Federal Health Resources to Be Launched at National
Gathering of Networked Consumer Health Information Providers
The 1997 Partnerships for Networked Consumer Health Information
Conference, to be held April 14-16, 1997, will explore dynamic
developments in the field and look at how interactive technology can help
meet the public's need for health information. This y ear, Partnerships
will be held in conjunction with the 1997 Emerging Health Information
Infrastructure Conference. The conferences will take place at the
Georgetown University Conference Center, 3800 Reservoir Road, NW,
Washington, DC. For more information, view the Partnerships '97 web site
at http://www.odphp.osophs.dhhs.gov/confrnce/partnr97.
The highlight of the conference will be the launch of healthfinder (phase
1), a new Internet site that will provide a user-friendly gateway to
consumer health nformation. Healthfinder will provide complete, easy
access to an unprecedented range of up-to-date government and select
noncommercial health information sources. HHS Secr etary Donna Shalala
(invited) will launch healthfinder at the conference's opening session on
Tuesday, April 14, at 9:00 a.m. A press conference with interview
opportunities will follow. To preview the healthfinder site prior to the
launch, go to http://www.odphp.osophs.dhhs.gov/healthfinder. Following
the launch, the address will be http://www.healthfinder.gov.
Consumers are using technology to get more involved with decisions about
their own health: from joining online self-help groups, to searching the
net for medical information, to using cutting-edge computer applications
to communicate with their doctors.
Partnerships '97 will take a critical look at how these developments are
changing the relationships between doctors and patients and providers,
particularly in the managed care marketplace. Keynote speakers include:
o Reed Tuckson, MD, President of Drew University, who will raise the
challenge of reaching the underserved on the Information Superhighway. o
Molly Joel Coye, MD, MPH, Vice President of HealthDesk Corporation, who
will describe how advanced consumer health informatics systems are
changing doctor-patient relationships. o The Honorable Reed Hundt,
Chairman of the Federal Communications Commission, who will describe new
plans for assuring affordable access to advanced telehealth services in
rural areas. o Tom Ferguson, MD, Senior Associate at Harvard's Center for
Clinical Computing, who will present a futuristic perspective of health
information in cyberspace, particularly support groups and self-help
communities.
Five major offices within U.S. DHHS are sponsoring the conference: Office
of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion, (convener); Agency for Health
Care Policy and Research; Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;
Office of Prevention, Education, and Control, National Heart, Lung and
Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health; and Office of Cancer
Communications, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health.
Other sponsors include the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation; the Annenberg
Scho ol for Communication at the University of Pennsylvania; and the
Association of American Medical Colleges.
###
===========================================================================
Barbara Patterson [log in to unmask]
HSC 2J22 905-525-9140, ext. 22403
School of Nursing
===========================================================================
