MEDIA ADVISORY: Conference Launches Creation of Statewide Health Information Exchange

Contact: Beth Potier
603-862-1566
UNH Media Relations

Oct. 26, 2005



What: New Hampshire Connects for Health Conference sponsored by the New Hampshire Health Information Center at the University of New Hampshire and the New Hampshire Citizens’ Health Initiative
 
When: Nov. 4, 2005, 7:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m.
 
Where: Highlander Inn, Manchester, N.H.
 
Who:

• New Hampshire health care leaders from hospitals, community health care services, insurers, and government
• Leaders of health information exchange initiatives from Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island
• Federal representatives from the Centers for Disease Control and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology

Background: This first annual summit explores a question critical to increasing the quality of care and decreasing medical errors: How can New Hampshire create a statewide health information exchange network that allows a patient’s information to follow him or her from provider to provider? As individual providers move forward with electronic medical records and monitoring systems, how can those systems be linked statewide for cost savings and enhanced quality?
 
“The quality implications are pretty high. There is potential for cost savings and for creating a better understanding and coordination within and between our patient care and public health systems,” said Robert McGrath, executive director of the New Hampshire Health Information Center and instructor in the department of Health Management and Policy at UNH.
 
The New Hampshire Connects for Health Conference is sponsored by UNH in partnership with eHealthinitiative, GE Healthcare, Kryptiq Corporation, Novell, Harvard Pilgrim Health Care, MVP Health Care, and Anthem.
 
Editors, news directors, reporters: You are invited to cover this conference. Suggested sessions are the welcome and overview (8–9:15 a.m.), “Keynote Address: Federal Visions and Perspectives” (11a.m –1 p.m.), or “Road Map to Next Tangible Steps” (2:45 – 3:30 p.m.). For more information and a complete schedule:  http://www.nhhic.org/conference.htm. Contact Beth Potier at beth.potier@unh.edu or Gretchen Bean at gretchen.bean@unh.edu.