Our annual health IT conference HIC 09 will be held in Canberra, from 19-21 August, in the spectacular setting of National Conference Centre Canberra. HIC '09 Frontiers of Health Informatics - Redefining Healthcare will examine implementation of innovative cutting edge technologies around four leading key information technology themes: Personalised medicine and bioinformatics, Next generation electronic health records, New models of healthcare delivery and Preventative healthcare and wellness.

If you wish to submit your paper, please consider the four major themes of the conference and submit on-line by March 9. You can submit for: scientific papers on the latest progress in health informatics research and practice, technology use case and industry initiatives and workshops. For more details, please visit our HIC '09 Call for Papers section: www.hisa.org.au/hic09callforpapers

Workshops

HIC'09 will hold multiple workshops on 19 August which will offer participants the opportunity to gather for discussions and presentations prior to the opening of the conference. Personal health records, Decision support systems, Home based eHealth, Modeling and simulation for health policy development are only some of the topics scheduled for presentation. If you are looking to deliver a workshop yourself, you can find more details on workshops and the submission guidelines, at the Workshops section on HIC '09 website www.hisa.org.au/hic09workshops. The closing date for workshop submission is 16 March 2009.

Presentations

HISA invites the submission of abstracts for applied health informatics presentations, due by March 30. 

These presentations will not be reviewed using the academic peer review process applied to the scientific conference papers but will be checked for quality and content by the organising committee. The aim is to provide HIC 09 delegates with practical insights into the implementation of a broad range of health informatics technologies and provide a platform for exposure of innovations that might not yet have had formal evaluations. These presentations should fit within the theme of the HIC09 conference of “The Frontiers of Health Informatics”. For more information, please go to HIC '09 website.

Keynotes

International and national experts working in different domains of health informatics will provide keynote addresses introducing each theme to Conference participants. Some of our stellar speakers confirmed so far include leaders in Health IT from across the pond: Dr Laurence Clarke, Branch Chief for Imaging Technology Development Branch, Cancer Imaging Program (CIP), Division of Cancer Treatment and Diagnosis, National Cancer Institute at NIH; Bruce Friedman, an Active Emeritus Professor of Pathology in the Department of Pathology, University of Michigan Medical School, Ann Arbor, Michigan, formerly the Co-Director of the Division of Pathology Informatics in the Department of Pathology and Director of Clinical Support Systems for the University of Michigan Health System; Omid Moghadam, the Global Director of Business for Intel Genomics, an Intel division focused on providing services to the Genomics market and Ronald Tompkins, Chief of Burns Service, Massachusetts General Hospital Sumner M. Redstone Professor of Surgery Harvard Medical School, Chief of Staff, Shriners Hospitals for Children - Boston. Many more engaging expert keynotes will be joining us at HIC '09, updated information will be published on our website as it becomes available, please check the latest on keynotes here.

The Health Informatics Society of Australia (HISA) and CHIK Services (CHIK) will host the second Joint Health ICT Industry Exhibition in 2009.  The joint Exhibition will link HISA's HIC'09 Conference (19 - 21 August 2009) and CHIK's Health-e-Nation'09 Conference (19 August 2009) at the National Convention Centre, Canberra.

This linking of Australia's two leading eHealth conferences with a common industry exhibition reflects the complimentary nature of both events.  

With the Health-e-Nation's focus on eHealth policy and HIC'09's attention to science, innovation and implementation, the collocation of the events in the one centre presents an outstanding opportunity for individuals to get an unparalleled view of the issues driving eHealth in Australia. 

With Health-e-Nation 09's conference being held on the same day as the HISA workshops, delegates can now have 3 full days to engage with the industry exhibition.  With the continuing focus on systems implementation in Australia, this opportunity to talk and debate with industry experts in the exhibition area is an important opportunity that is not to be missed.

HealthBeyond - Consumer eHealth Day is an exciting new event from HISA, taking place at Melbourne Telstra Dome (Atihad Stadium from March 1) on May 7. It will showcase amazing new technologies available to consumers to educate and empower them to take an active role in maintaining their health and building wellness. New and innovative online health communities, consumer health monitoring systems, therapeutic gaming products, and the fusion of IT with physical exercise systems are being showcased across both traditional and mobile computing platforms.

HealthBeyond will be bringing together the thought leaders in these spaces and provide a practical and achievable direction to Australian healthcare professionals and consumers on how to best use these new opportunities to improve their health and the health of their patients. 

Vendors and industry leaders in these areas will join in for presentations and discussions that will focus around the key health challenges in Australia: Chronic disease, fitness and Aged Care.  

EXHIBITION

A free flowing exhibition in the stunning Victory Room at Telstra Dome is the place where delegates will see, feel and play with these dazzling new technologies, providing a hands-on education area where health providers and consumers will learn about the best eHEALTH solutions and how they are applied. Concurrent product demonstrations will take place within our four health and wellness precincts HEALTH GAMES & FITNESS SYSTEMS, PERSONAL HEALTH RECORDS, INFORMATION AND COMMUNITIES ON THE WEB and HOME HEALTH MONITORING & CARE.

HealthBeyond will be an exciting, eye opening and inspiring event that is designed to  deliver a new generation of consumer health IT evangelists, ready to influence their patients and their peers.

Another exciting event for 2009 is the 3rd Annual Information Technology in Aged Care Conference to be held 21 and 22 May 2009 at the Hilton Sydney. The theme of the conference, Sustaining Quality Through eCare, emphasises the importance of information technology in establishing a sustainable, quality focused aged care environment. We will bring together local and international experts across the fields of community care, medication management, assistive technologies and offsite information systems delivery. These critical aged care topics will be discussed from a practical perspective, highlighting the information we need to know now to better manage and design aged care service delivery.

With ITAC 09 we aim to provide something for everyone, from basic hints and techniques workshops for the reluctant user through to presentations and discussion panels from speakers and presenters dealing with the broader business  

expert and strategic issues facing an industry grappling with the uptake of technology.

The ITAC 09 theme of Sustaining Quality Through eCare incorporates various information streams such as Total Cost of Ownership, Medication Management, Document Management, Open Source Computing, Cloud Computing, Designing community Care Systems, Community Health Records, Automation - Monitoring, Reducing Costs, Assistive Technologies and ePrescribing.

AWARDS

"Implementation of the Year" and "ICT Company of the Year" are the categories for this year's Aged Care Industry IT Awards - an occasion you do not want to miss. Nominate your project or your company and you may get plenty of reasons to celebrate. The Awards will be a black tie event, so throw your glad rags on and enjoy the spectacular setting of the Watersedge, our stunning waterfront venue. Sensational Harbour views, haute cuisine and a late night boogie with a live band are all certain to make this a night to remember. The Awards will take place on Thursday 21 May 2009 from 7.00 pm,  and are sponsored by leading industry players. Nominations will be accepted by April 9 2009, for more details please go to www.itac09.com.au/awards.htm

The Coalition for eHealth meeting in Sydney on Feb 20 was a great success, with presentations from Adam Powick, (Deloittes) - The National eHealth Strategy, Mukesh Haikerwal and Klaus Boehncke (Booz & Co) - NHHRC Discussion Paper - E-Health: Enabler for Australia's health Reform and Peter Fleming (NEHTA) - The NEHTA work program. The event was chaired by Michael Legg (HISA President).

This event was the first time that NEHTA, the NHHRC and the Deloittes national strategy were presented and discussed at the same time.    

With an audience of over 50 leaders of national health related associations there was extended discussions on the impact of these plans on Australian healthcare. Importantly, it highlighted the need for a single agreed plan for eHealth in Australia and the importance of broad participation in the finalisation of that plan.

As a result of this meeting an online discussion of this important issue is being developed on the CeH website. 

We will be reporting on this discussion and the it develops over the next few months.

Just over a year ago, the Prime Minister and the Minister for Health and Ageing announced the establishment of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission to develop a long term health system reform plan for Australia. The Interim Report of the National Health and Hospitals Reform Commission (NHHRC) - A Healthier Future for all Australians was released on Feb 16 2009 at the National Press Club in Canberra.  Michael Legg, HISA's President was in attendance at the Press Club for that event.

The report represents a result of broad consultations with all the relevant health system players and the consideration of a great number of submissions, commissioned discussion papers and workshops. As a result, the report attempts to identify the challenges facing the present and the future of the Australian health care system, but also to examine the potential of the existing health system strengths and ways to improve them. Most importantly, the report proposes indicative reform directions and invites discussion and feedback on its findings as the NHHRC works towards completion of their final report.

AHHA and HISA are currently in preparation of a joint response to the Interim Report.

You can download a copy of the report from the NHHRC website by clicking here .