Meeting the Challenges of Digital Medicine
By: Kathryn Coburn, ABA/SciTech
I’ve been thinking about how to encourage innovative approaches to diagnosis and treatment of disease, without sacrificing patient safety, privacy or information security. Fortunately, I’m not alone; I have a lot of company. Universities and consortiums, throughout the world, have similar agendas. Precision Medicine, Artificial Intelligence, and Law raise knotty health technology, policy and legal issues about how to manage health information systems and balance society’s twin goals-- encourage innovation and protect patients.
ABA/SciTech’s purpose at HIMSS18 is two-fold: (1) to learn from physicians and researchers how patients benefit from new treatments using Precision Medicine and Artificial Intelligence and (2) to explain the new, modernized 2018 Federal Regulatory Framework for medical devices.
I’m excited to hear from Elizabeth Baca, M.D., M.P.A., Senior Health Adviser in the California Governor’s Office of Planning and Research, providing oversight for the California Initiative to Advance Precision Medicine. Also, Christina Gurnett, M.D., Ph.D., whose laboratory at Washington University focuses on the effect of gene variants on human health, including epilepsy and musculoskeletal disorders. We’ll hear from Sarah Hartz, M.D., Ph.D., a physician-scientist, child psychiatrist and neurologist at Washington University, discovering the genetics of substance abuse. Jodi Daniel, M.P.H., J.D., is a former ONC Policy Director who will talk about the new Food and Drug Administration (FDA) framework for launching and distributing medical devices. Arthur Peabody, J.D., litigation counsel in Virginia, will tell about risk and liability when health information or health information systems are mismanaged or things go awry.
According to the FDA, clinical evidence shows that consumers who are better informed about health make better decisions about their lifestyles and their health choices and often experience better outcomes. The FDA’s new approach to advancing digital health is both realistic and reassuring!
This session on Meeting the Challenges of Digital Medicine will be on Tuesday, March 6, 9:30am - 11:00am PT.