Baker Institute panel to explore the use of technology to deliver health care

A panel of leaders from academia, government, insurance and industry will discuss how information technology can be used effectively to improve health care and how to address the policy and regulatory impediments to progress at Rice University’s Baker Institute for Public Policy May 6.

The panel discussion, “The Use of Technology to Deliver Health Care,” is free and open to the public and will be from 7:45 to 9 a.m. in Baker Hall’s Doré Commons. Breakfast will be served at 7:45 and the discussion will begin at 8.

The panelists are: Kyle Janek, executive commissioner of the Texas Health and Human Services Commission; Dr. Hagop Kantarjian, professor and chairman of the Department of Leukemia, MD Anderson Cancer Center, and scholar in health policy at the Baker Institute; and Dr. Lee Newcomer, senior vice president for oncology, genetics and women’s health at UnitedHealthcare.

Dr. Lynda Chin, professor and chair of the Department of Genomic Medicine, MD Anderson Cancer Center, will serve as moderator and Edward Djerejian, founding director of the Baker Institute, will give welcoming remarks.

Faced with uncertainty about changes in health care and the emerging crisis of an aging population, the government, insurers and providers are increasing their efforts to reduce costs, improve quality and expand access to care, according to event organizers. One evolving area of innovation is the development of information technology platforms to support doctors’ decision-making and to enhance research capabilities and health management through adaptive learning systems. However, it remains unclear how these technologies should be implemented and what implications they have for health care delivery and health management, organizers said. The panel will address implementation and implications.

This panel discussion is part of the Medicine, Research and Society Policy Issues Series, a joint project between the Baker Institute Science and Technology Policy Program and the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, and is open to the public. It is co-sponsored by the Baker Institute Health Policy Forum.

To register and for more information, go to http://bakerinstitute.org/events/1642. A live webcast will be available at http://bakerinstitute.org/webcasts.