GREENSBORO, NC – The North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance, Inc., a nonprofit consortium promoting healthcare information technology initiatives in North Carolina, kicked off its 14th annual conference Monday.
"NCHICA's ability to bring experts together to discuss issues and solutions to problems around health IT is invaluable," said Tom Earnhardt, senior vice president of Cabarrus Family Medicine and president of NCHICA. "This year's conference will again serve as a catalyst for encouraging discussion around health IT that will influence the creation and adoption of policies and new legislation that will enable physicians and other providers to deliver better healthcare by having the right information at the point of care."
The theme of the 2008 conference is "Health Information Exchange: Connecting Communities to Achieve Excellence." Charlotte Mayor and North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Pat McCrory will deliver the keynote address and discuss his plans to improve healthcare in the state, including how healthcare IT could be leveraged to address rising healthcare costs while maintaining a high quality of care.
Although a regional conference, the NCHICA event is of interest to a wide variety of healthcare stakeholders. Conference attendees will participate in discussions about aspirations for a National Health Information Network, a critical portion of the federal government's healthcare IT agenda. The ultimate goal of the NHIN is to provide a secure, nationwide, interoperable healthcare information infrastructure that will connect providers, consumers and others involved in healthcare.
"North Carolina has an opportunity to create a first-class health information exchange that will impact the care of all of our citizens," said Holt Anderson, NCHICA's executive director. "Through this year's conference, and the number of stakeholders engaged, we expect significant progress in developing the community and regional framework needed to enable secure health information exchange."
The conference runs through Wednesday.
