Join ADVANCE at HealthCamp Philadelphia
We are in the midst of a social networking explosion. Headhunters recruit through LinkedIn, Congressmen send tweets from the debate floor and thousands log on to Facebook every day. The possibilities are endless, and as an industry that's bent on the rapid exchange of information, health care should carve its niche in Web 2.0.
But with so much room to grow, it's actually tough to get started. Like those open-ended papers your college professors assigned--"Write as much as you need to," they said--having free range to dream big can actually be daunting.
Well, HealthCamp is out to get a handle on Health 2.0. The 1-day conference is an open, free-form gathering of health care minds to discuss topics like EHRs, open source technology, social network opportunities for physicians and, well, anything HIT-related that's on your mind. Sessions aren't preplanned; instead, attendees are invited to bring ideas and propose discussions at the conference. Participants can prepare presentations--they just don't know when they'll be presenting.
I think the idea's pretty innovative, and it reflects the same democratization of ideas social media seems to tout. Lucky for me, HealthCamp is headed to Philadelphia on March 28. The conference will be held at the Dorrance Hamilton Building at Thomas Jefferson University, running from 8 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. It's free to register, and I hear there's an after party not to be missed.
A number of people have already raised some interesting topics for discussion. I'm particularly jazzed about Phil Baumann, whose blog features "140 Health Care Uses for Twitter," and Matias Klein, a health information exchange expert from the Philly ‘burbs. The stimulus plan has everyone buzzing about EHRs, so there's bound to be a presentation or two about getting the nation linked up.
If you're in the Philly area, there's still time to sign up. Find out more and register at www.healthcampphila.org.
Already planning to attend? Shoot me an e-mail at cmcevoy@advanceweb.com and I'll keep an eye out for you!