ONC and others discuss Interoperability, Health IT Challenges

Yesterday the Office of the National Coordinator hosted it’s first ever ONC Google + Hangout. Led by ONC Chief Scientist Doug Fridsma, MD, the hour long hangout brought ONC staffers, stakeholders and industry thought leaders together for a video chat conference for all the world to see.

I hung out for the entire hour, my first Google+ hangout experience.  To ONC’s and the participants credit, the conference felt unscripted (in a good way) once past some opening slides. It made me feel like an “insider” which, I suppose, was the whole point.

The video chat participants included:

• Doug Fridsma, M.D., Ph.D. – Chief Scientist at ONC
• Arien Malec – VP Strategy and Product Marketing at RelayHealth, Former Coordinator for the Direct Project
• Deven McGraw – Director of the Health Privacy Project at CDT
• John Moehrke – Principal Engineer: Interoperability and Security at GE
• John Travis – Senior Director and Solution Strategist, Regulatory Compliance at Cerner
• Alice Leiter – Policy Counsel at Center for Democracy & Technology
• Vince Kuraitis – Principal, Better Health Technologies, LLC
• Brian Ahier – Health IT Evangelist

It was a terrific experience and one I hope the ONC will build a program on. The Google+ hangout format offers low barrier of participation – if you can get online to YouTube you’re good to go – and, more importantly, gave the viewers a chance to hear a thoughtful, interesting discussion on some of the most pressing issues in Health IT.
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You can watch a recording of the event below or on the ONC’s YouTube hangout channel.

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