Experts explore digital technologies' potential to improve health care

Digital Infrastructure for the Learning Health System: The Foundation for Continuous Improvement in Health and Health Care recaps presentations and discussions from the experts in computer science and health IT, health care delivery and administration, privacy, patient advocacy, and policy who participated in the workshops.

Participants flagged several priority areas that warrant follow up, including analyses of the potential health and economic returns, consensus on standards and quality measures, and consistent patient identification across the system.

IOM will host a meeting to discuss implications of the workshop discussions and next steps. The meeting will run from 9:30 a.m. to noon in Room 100 of the National Academies' Keck Center, 500 Fifth St., N.W., Washington, D.C. An agenda and registration are available online at http://www.iom.edu/Activities/Quality/VSRT/2011-MAY-23.aspx.

Copies of the workshop summary report will be available for immediate release at 9 a.m. Monday, May 23, at www.iom.edu/vsrt. The workshop series was convened by the IOM's Roundtable on Value and Science-Driven Health Care, with the support of the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. As a summary of the discussions, the report presents the views and ideas of the workshop participants and does not contain recommendations or position statements from the IOM.