Health IT Now and the Center for Data Innovation Convene Stakeholders to Discuss Rapidly Evolving Landscape of Health and Big Data
Washington, D.C. – The Health IT Now Coalition and the Center for Data Innovation convened a full-day summit today exploring the rapidly evolving market of data-driven solutions to support genomics research and its applications in healthcare. Attendees at the summit, Data-Driven Medicine in the Age of Genomics, identified necessary reforms—both legislative and regulatory—to promote data-driven medicine in ways that meaningfully transform care delivery, improve health outcomes and decrease health spending.
“The potential for genomics and data-driven medicine is astounding. Yet, challenges to harnessing the data are also readily apparent, and we’ve convened leading experts here today to address those obstacles head on,” said Joel White, executive director of Health IT Now. “With incentives, technology can be leveraged to speed the translation of data into treatments and cures for patients who need them. In order to achieve this, however, current laws and regulations must be changed, which will require engaging Congress and the administration in the near- and long-term.”
Experts from across the health spectrum—administrators, innovators and legislators— gathered to confront barriers to adoption of data-driven solutions to today’s most pressing health issues. Senator Michael Bennet (D-CO) will offer the afternoon keynote address and other experts, including Dr. Jon White of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT and several Congressional staffers will discuss genomics research and health IT through the lens of current market conditions, as well as the legislative trajectory in the 114th Congress.
“Data-driven innovation offers an important opportunity to improve health care delivery, cure deadly disease and save lives,” added Daniel Castro, director of the Center for Data Innovation. “However, before we can truly start leveraging the benefits of personalized medicine, policymakers need to address the barriers to big data in health care. Today’s summit was an important step in identifying these barriers and seeking solutions for progress.”
Since the enactment of the HITECH Act in 2009, taxpayers and the medical industry have collectively invested more than $100 billion in an information technology infrastructure suited to America’s 21st century health needs. These investments hold vast potential for revolutionizing medical science, population health and cost management. Yet realizing this promise requires progress on a wide range of market, regulatory and legislative obstacles, many of which were instituted before we even dreamed of today’s technological advances. Nowhere are the potential opportunity costs greater than in genomic medicine—the mapping and sequencing of genes to discover and create individualized treatments for genetically driven diseases like cancer and diabetes.
About the Health IT Now Coalition: Health IT Now (HITN) is a broad based coalition of patient groups, provider organizations, employers and payers that supports incentives to deploy health information technology to improve care, provider performance, patient outcomes, and to lower costs. Learn more at www.healthitnow.org.
About the Center for Data Innovation: The Center for Data Innovation is the leading think tank studying the intersection of data, technology, and public policy. Based in Washington, DC, the Center formulates and promotes pragmatic public policies designed to maximize the benefits of data-driven innovation in the public and private sectors. Learn more at www.datainnovation.org.
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