Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Mike Leavitt, a strong proponent of leveraging technology to improve the nation's health care system, will lead off the June 8 plenary session of AHRQ's 2005 Annual Patient Safety and Health Information Technology Conference in Washington, DC. The week-long meeting, which runs from June 6-10, will examine the state of patient safety and health information technology research and the implications for improving health care quality.

The conference will feature reports on the latest findings from AHRQ's portfolio of patient safety research, early lessons learned from projects to implement and evaluate new health IT applications, and presentations from public- and private-sector health care leaders. Also on June 8, AHRQ Director Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D. , will announce new patient safety research grants and discuss the link between patient safety and health IT activities in advancing quality improvement.

WHEN:
Wednesday, June 8, 2005, starting at 9:00 a.m.

WHERE:
Washington DC Convention Center
801 Mount Vernon Place, NW,
Washington, DC

WHO:
Speaker Highlights Include:

-- Mike Leavitt, Secretary, HHS
-- Carolyn M. Clancy, M.D., Director, AHRQ
-- David J. Brailer, M.D., Ph.D., National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
-- Representative Nancy Johnson (R-CT), Chair, House Ways and Means Health Subcommittee
-- Reed Tuckson, M.D., Senior Vice President, UnitedHealth Group
-- Congressional Health Care Staff Members

For a copy of the complete meeting agenda, go to ahrq/about/ptsafconf05.htm