Aetna Hosts White House Health Technology Innovation Summit

Aetna’s chief medical officer did not mince words when he addressed a group of industry stakeholders yesterday at a White House roundtable. “The delivery and coordination of health care services in America must change,” said Lonny Reisman, M.D., Aetna's chief medical officer. As part of a White House Business Council and Business Forward's Roundtable Discussion on health information technology issues, Dr. Reisman encouraged further, rapid innovation in the development of health technology.

The roundtable, "America's Innovation Economy: Health IT in Hartford," was part of the Winning the Future Roundtable with American Businesses series. A year after The Affordable Care Act became law, the issues surrounding delivery of health care have taken center stage as participants from the provider, payer and vendor communities struggle to adequately address health care delivery problems.

Aetna’s roundtable included Todd Park, CTO and “entrepreneur in residence,” U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. After a lucrative launch of the IT startup AthenaHealth, Park was set to retire. Described by industry experts as having the skills to revolutionize the health care industry, Park’s reputation for delivering the knowledge and inspiration required to make health care data accessible to all qualified stakeholders will be his legacy, say observers.

Along with acknowledging Park’s presence, Aetna’s Reisman noted his organization’s appreciation for the Administration's outreach to the business community to help drive a national discussion on innovation and economic growth.

“We share the view that health IT innovations are critical to successfully reforming the nation's health care system by improving care quality and lowering costs for patients and employers," Reisman said.

According to Reisman, Aetna is helping by investing in innovative health care tools and technologies that can seamlessly and securely exchange information among care providers and give them valuable, actionable, patient-specific health care information right in the physician's office, in the emergency room, or wherever they see a patient. Improved information flow will drive higher quality, more convenient health care at a lower cost for all.

"While this evolution on the inside of the health care system is occurring, the way the system opens to patients must also change in response to the sea-change in American consumer behavior,” Reisman said. “The health care system must provide convenient, mobile support of health care purchases to meet consumers on their terms as we build the new health and wellness marketplace. The system must respect that, for many, convenience is the key measure of quality, and must make cost, performance and access to information readily, easily available. We are building these necessary mobile health solutions and joining with other businesses to meet the demand for complete health information mobility in today's fast-paced, ever-changing technology environment."

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