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Sen. Moore to participate in unique health conference
October 17, 2007...Sen. Richard T. Moore (D-Uxbridge) will deliver greetings and serve as a panelist at the 2007 Connected Health Symposium sponsored by Partners Health Care, being held October 22-23 at Harvard Medical School’s Conference Center in Boston. Sen. Moore is a nationally recognized leader in public policy regarding health information technology. In addition to being co-chair of the Health Information Technology Champions (HITCh) Project of the National Conference of State Legislatures, he is a member of the National Governor’s Association’s State e-Health Alliance. Both projects aim to expand health information technology solutions to improving the quality and containing the cost of health care. The Center for Connected Health, a division of Partners HealthCare, this year, is bridging the gap between the real world and the virtual ‘metaverse' that is called Second Life, with the first real-time, interactive healthcare conference to take place in both worlds. As part of the Center's annual Connected Health symposium, live sessions on healthcare and technology, disease management and patient-centered care, will be streamed into the 'Connected Health Island' in Second Life. While live video of the entire conference will be available to view, there will also be the opportunity to attend a live and interactive simulcast of the panel specifically focused on healthcare and its place in the virtual world. The Center for Connected Health has built a virtual conference facility on their island which, for this event, will house the conference panel members and any Second Life residents who wish to join as a virtual audience member. Each panel member will control their own animated figure, known as an avatar, from their seat at the Harvard Medical Conference Center in Boston. Conference participants in Boston will watch the panel, in real time, while the very same presentation will be taking place on the Connected Health Island in Second Life. This creates a shared space for both the virtual and real life audience members. This uniquely tailored third space allows people, regardless of physical location, the opportunity to interact, while changing healthcare delivery. "Second Life offers a rich communications environment and, in some ways, may provide a more caring, safe atmosphere for the exchange of healthcare information," said Joseph C. Kvedar, MD, founder and director of the Center for Connected Health. "We are seriously exploring the value of offering healthcare information, support services and communications vehicles via the virtual world. For some patient populations, this may be an extremely effective solution to some very real healthcare challenges." "Expanding our annual symposium into Second Life will enrich the experience of our live participants, expand the reach of the event to a new demographic of health care consumers, and reiterate the message of connected health - that health care can be made available to anyone, anywhere through the use of technology," Kvedar added. As part of panel discussion entitled Second Life: Healthcare Enters the Virtual World, each panelist will be represented in the virtual world by a personalized avatar:
This groundbreaking session will take place on Monday, October 22, from 10:00 to 11:00 am, or can be viewed on Second Life. Following this session, Sen. Moore is also a panelist for a second panel discussion entitled: Shifts in the Mix of Public and Private Payers, the Quest for Funding, and Other Challenges in Store for US Health Insurance 11:15-12:15 pm (Rotunda) Moderator: John Cullinane, Chairman, LiveData
For more information or to register for the conference, please visit http://www.connected-health.org. |
