The role technology can play in helping the United States manage health care costs by advancing the diagnosis, treatment and prevention of disease will be examined in a conference at the National Institute of Standards and Technology in Gaithersburg, Md., on Sept. 25.
Major technological advances have greatly improved patient care since the 1970s, but have come at a steep price. U.S. health care spending is expected to rise from nearly $2 trillion in 2002 to more than $4 trillion by 2015.
The goal of ?Economic Strategy for Health Care through Bio and Information Standards and Technologies? is to emphasize the need to develop a long-term economic strategy for implementing bio and health care information technologies into our health care system. By developing breakthrough biomeasurement, bioinformatics, biologically based and health-information technologies, rising health care costs can be reigned in and quality can be improved.
?The outcome of this conference will benefit patients and society by improving the quality and convenience of care, managing health care costs and increasing access to affordable and effective health care throughout the world,? Biotechnology Council Chair Dick Doyle said.
The all-day conference will bring together key government, industry, academic and research leaders and patient advocates. This will help policy makers and corporate leaders understand where technology investments should be made to enhance health care quality, wellness and disease prevention, while minimizing cost. Dr. Jerry Grossman, senior Fellow and director of the Harvard/Kennedy School Health Care Delivery Policy Program and chairman emeritus of New England Medical Center, is the honorary chair.
?Because of the complexity and scope of the issue, the conference requires decision makers, researchers, engineers and providers from many traditional disciplines to collaborate and tackle the challenges together,? Doyle said.