I listened to part of the initial presentation by Hans Rosling from Sweden which was very interesting, but I was mostly getting coordinated for the day.

I am very excited to sit down and listen to George Halvorson’s presentation called “A Practical Model to Achieve Health Reform”. [George is the Chairman and CEO of Kaiser and recently wrote the book Healthcare Reform Now! A Prescription for Change. Some of my notes on this are here although I am still finishing up the book.] more»

Only 2% of consumers are currently using a PHR, according to Revolution Health CMO, Jeff Gruen at the World Health Care Congress on a panel with Graham Pallett (Carol) and Jeff Rideout (Health Evolution Partners). more»

TIRAT CARMEL, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--InSightec Ltd. today announced that it will exhibit at the 5th Annual World Health Care Congress in Washington, DC from April 21-23. The company will feature the only FDA approved MR Guided Focused Ultrasound Surgery (MRgFUS) device, the ExAblate® 2000, which has been used to treat uterine fibroids non-invasively, minimizing trauma, morbidity and recovery time. In addition to enhancing patient care, the procedure has a significant economic impact reducing overall medical costs when compared to conventional surgery. Uterine fibroid is a pervasive condition that impacts up to 70% of women of childbearing age and can lead to serious symptoms. more»

WASHINGTON, April 21 /PRNewswire/ -- The 5th Annual World Health Care Congress kicks off today (April 21) in Washington, D.C. with health care policy advisors for U.S. Presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama, Sen. Hillary Clinton and Sen. John McCain, all of whom will be featured on the Presidential Health Care Agenda forum. The advisors will present and compare both candidates' health care reform plans, the prospect of universal coverage and fiscal stability of Medicare. more»

We are just starting the 4th general session here. [This is harder to do real-time blogging than I thought…and keep paying attention.] The panel is Toby Cosgrove from the Cleveland Clinic, Grant Harrison from Humana, and Lee Shapiro from Allscripts. Justin Fox from Time and Clayton Christensen from HBS are the moderators. more»

As part of my opportunity to be part of the press at the World Healthcare Congress, I opted to interview some of the participants and speakers. This is my first of several that I have scheduled. I had a chance to sit down with Phyllis Anderson who is the VP of Corporate Marketing for Humana. She has an interesting background from Pillsbury, Nabisco, and Bank of America as I discovered when I asked her what they were doing to bring in non-healthcare people to help them address consumerism within healthcare. Her story about working on healthier snack foods where they wanted to protect the quality of taste while addressing the healthy trends in the US seems very applicable. more»

Joanne Silberner from NPR is moderating a panel on the Presidential HC Agenda which includes people from McCain, Clinton, and Obama’s campaign. more»

Kaiser Foundation Health Plan/Hospitals CEO George Halvorson joined with a number of Kaiser Permanente employees and physicians who provided key insights at the fifth annual World Health Care Congress this week in Washington, D.C. more»

Washington, DC - I’m going to be attending the 2008 5th annual World Health Care Congress for three days starting tomorrow. I’ll be blogging here and at the World Health Care Blog, as well as sharing interesting insights from the speakers on Twitter. more»

Berlin, March 13, 2008 -- By bringing 600 government and industry leaders together from more than 50 countries, the “World Health Care Congress Europe" (WHCCE), which began Monday, offered a splendid window on the wide variety of solutions that countries around the world are using as they struggle toward health care reform. One constant theme of the conference: “No One Thing Works.” more»

The chief executive of the NHS has reaffirmed the government's commitment to introducing more private providers to primary care, and has spoken of the drive towards "personalisation" of patient services. more»

NHS chief executive David Nicholson says the NHS IT programme had become too centralised to support the move to a health service based on plurality and far more locally-based decision making by clinicians and patients. more»

BERLIN, March 7, 2008 — The University of Pittsburgh Medical Center’s (UPMC) efforts to build an innovative “international medical and academic highway” will be featured on March 10 in presentations at the fourth annual World Health Care Congress Europe in Berlin. more»

Next week sees hundreds of senior health officials from across Europe congregate in Berlin, Germany, for the 4th Annual World Health Care Congress Europe.

As a supporting publication, E-Health Europe will be reporting live from the event, bringing you all the latest developments in European e-health. more»

The issue of confluence between quality of care and cost was the highlight of yesterday's opening session at the World Congress' Evidence-Based Medicine Summit in Alexandria, Virginia.

Keynote speaker Margaret O'Kane, president of the National Committee for Quality Assurance, began on a hopeful note: "We're not where we need to be today, [but] we're seeing more and more about what needs to change." more»

I'm back in the saddle after taking a few weeks of much needed vacation and family time over the Holidays. Forgive me for lapsing on my weekly HealthBlog postings, and for my failure to wish my loyal readers Seasons Greetings and Happy New Year.

Right before my Holiday break, I attended the World Healthcare Innovation and IT Congress in Washington, D.C., at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel. In my last posting, I told you about Kevin Kelly's terrific keynote at the event. more»

Steve Case Co-founder AOL and CEO, Revolution Health speaking at the World Healthcare (Innovation and Technology Congress) held in Washington D.C. said, “Consumers and patients are embracing technology and going to the internet for information, but they also want to take it a step further and have tools available to customize their own health information. Revolution Health is meeting these needs by building a company not only with products and services but also by developing innovative partnerships to meet future consumer needs for larger specialized health networks. more»

Jerome Grossman MD., Director, Health Care Delivery Policy Program, JFK School of Government, Harvard University, painted a realistic picture of healthcare. He said, “The present healthcare system has moved from a framework of professional dominance to one of measurement and accounting. The healthcare system is heading towards using people with less training to provide products and services so that healthcare will be more affordable and accessible for the majority of the population. more»

What once was considered a technology-phobic industry, health care providers are offering exchanges of information and new tools to make consumers more attuned to their health care spending. more»