Public/private sector in healthcare summit

WASHINGTON, Jan. 26 (UPI) -- U.S. health officials and representatives from the private healthcare system met in Washington Thursday to explore improving healthcare quality at lower cost.

The Care Innovations Summit -- hosted jointly by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the West Wireless Health Institute and the journal Health Affairs -- brought together 1,000 medical professionals, healthcare policymakers, academics and investors to explore innovative ways to make healthcare affordable and effective, health officials said.

"The Affordable Care Act gives us tremendous new tools to innovate and improve our healthcare system," Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of Health and Human Services, said in a statement. "We'll discuss how we can work together to make innovative ideas a reality in communities across the country."

The summit showcased several announcements of major initiatives by leading healthcare organizations -- including challenges to reverse the trend of diabetes, advance the field of Alzheimer's prevention and treatment, and bolster the battle against HIV/AIDS, officials said.

Dr. Farzad Mostashari, national coordinator for health information technology, announced a discharge follow-up appointment care transitions challenge -- to spur innovations in health Internet technology -- that utilizes prizes and challenges to facilitate innovation and obtain solutions to intractable health IT problems.

The challenge aims to stimulate the use of simple, information technology-enabled processes and tools to make transitions easier and safer for patients, caregivers and providers -- particularly when a patient is discharged from a hospital.