Local government officials, health care IT workers discuss technology
At the end of January, local and state officials met with health care IT workers at a summit in Atlanta, sponsored by the Washington-based Public Technology Institute (PTI), to discuss the ways technology can help improve the delivery of health care services. During the summit, PTI also announced that it planned to publish a book on the subject by 2009.
Participants at the summit discussed the need for interagency collaboration between federal, state and local health systems, and the need to overcome skepticism in the public health field over the use of technology. PTI also has created a task force consisting of government officials and IT experts to identify other government-related organizations with which PTI will work to promote technology in health care.
PTI also announced that, over the next 12 months, the organization will compile papers from health care officials and experts into a book titled “Health Care Information Technology: Strategies for State and Local Government,” which will be published next year. Another summit is scheduled for early 2009. Presentations from the summit are available at www.pti.org.