Kitzhaber at HIMSS Oregon -- Jan 28th

In case you hadn't heard former Oregon Governor, John Kitzhaber, MD, will be the keynote speaker at the 2010 HIMSS Oregon Conference. Since being in office Dr. Kitzhaber has been intimately involved in health care reform. He founded The Archimedes Movement to foster innovative ways to engage in civic discourse and debate. Reframing the health care debate has been its primary focus. Dr. Kitzhaber also chairs The Foundation for Medical Excellence and is Director Emeritus at the Center for Evidence-Based Policy.

I've seen the former governor speak on health care reform at an Archimedes conference last year and was very impressed. He gave an assessment on where health care policy currently stands and the difficulties reform has come up against. The vision he laid out is for states to take (or must take) a leading role in providing safe, affordable care to their citizens. The national capability to insure every American moves onward only after enough demonstrable effective models are out there on the state level. What he didn't cover as much was his vision that the role HIT plays in health care reform. I think his presentation at HIMSS OR will get into that and be a cause for constructive debate among conference goers. So be sure to register and we'll see you there!