1997 Partnerships for Networked Consumer Health Information Conference

Summaries of Plenary Sessions and Breakout Sessions

Tools and Toolboxes #2: Tales from the Trenches

Wednesday, April 16, 1997
9:30-11:00 AM

Moderator: Stephen J. Downs, Acting Director, Telecommunications and Information Infrastructure Assistance Program, National Telecommunications and Information Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce

Speaker: Jean A. Wooldridge, Project Director, Cancer Information Service for the Pacific Northwest Demonstration Project, Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, "Reaching Underserved Populations for Breast and Cervical Cancer - A CDC/NCI Demonstration Project"

Speaker: Linda R. Cooperstock, MPH, Planning/Coordination Manager, Integrated Technology Services, University of Missouri, "Consumer Health Information at the University of Missouri-Columbia"

Speaker: Barry Silverman, PhD, Director, Institute for Artificial Intelligence, George Washington University, "Intelligent, Web-Based Reminder Agents"

Speaker: Naomi Broering, MLS, President, Medical Library Association, Texas Medical Center Library, Houston Academy of Medicine, "The Library Connection - Consumer Health Information"

Statement of the Subject

The panel session will focus on how people are developing and using tools that provide individuals and families with better information about health topics and health services.

Key Issues

The panelists will discuss the key issues that affect the development and use of health information tools and resources. These issues include working with partners from the academic, state, federal, and private sectors; developing long-term funding sources; liability for information and its use; providing adequate access to the information; selection of appropriate technologies; selection, packaging, and licensing of information resources; privacy; and others.

Roles, Responsibilities, and Priorities

The panelists offer a wide variety of perspectives on the topic, ranging from a developer of technological tools, to those responsible for delivering health information, to a federal sponsor of consumer health information projects. The panel discussion will cover the different roles that medical libraries, federal agencies, state and local governments, university research departments, academic medical centers, hospitals, managed care organizations, and pharmaceutical manufacturers can and will play in developing and implementing consumer health information resources and tools. The panelists will offer their perspectives on the roles that organizations from the different sectors have played in the projects in which they are involved and how their involvement has affected these projects. Each panelist will share his/her experiences in the trenches and discuss the implications of what they have learned. The panelists will discuss how the different roles that the different sectors currently play may need to evolve as the field develops in the context of a changing health care environment.

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