The Regulation of Health Data: How Will it Impact Innovation?

A small box inside the chest of Maajida beams all kinds of data about her faulty heart to the company that makes her implantable cardioverter-defibrillator (ICD). However, many barriers make it difficult for Maajida to get that information unless she requests summaries from her physician - whom she rarely sees and since she is in jeopardy of losing her insurance, may not ever see again. In short, the data gathered by the leading (ICD) manufacturers isn’t readily accessible to the person whose heartbeat it tracks. Surprisingly, the raw data gathered by the device isn’t held by a doctor or a hospital. Typically it goes directly to the device maker, which provides a summary report to the physician.

Health 2.0 Middle East - Dubai will address these type of pressing issues surrounding health policy and the regulatory world of health care data. The conference will be held 27th-28th January, 2013 at the majestic Jumeirah Beach Hotel. The health policy session will be an assembly of national and regional health leaders and stakeholders representing government, health technology, health innovators, pharmaceutical, insurers, and the life sciences. The panel will be addressing the preliminary ground work in progress, that will comprehensively reform and modernize health data policy.

A majority, if not all Western countries have strict privacy laws guaranteeing individual’s access to traditional health records. But implants and other new technologies - including smartphone apps and over-the-counter-monitors - are testing the very definition of medical records. Many international legal experts suggest that health law and policies governing patient access to their health records - haven’t kept up with the technology. The US HIPPA laws, the framework which many Gulf countries are modeling their own health policies and regulations after, is sixteen years old and in desperate need of changes to reflect the new technology realities.

Last April United States Rep. Joseph Pitts, R-PA., who chairs the House commerce subcommittee on health, stated. “We are concerned that applying a complex regulatory framework could inhibit future growth and innovation in this promising market and could preclude tools that help patients better their care and allow the health system as a whole reduce costs and improve quality,” while he and a panel addressed the issue of health data policy.

Health 2.0 Middle East will be showcasing many of these new technologies and the Health Policy session will explore how new innovations in eHealth are being affected by the adoption of health regulations and privacy policies. “The goal is to assess the opportunities and challenges facing the adoption of new health technologies in the GCC, while identifying several major barriers to the broad adoption of health innovation technologies” says Kenneth Seymens, Managing Partner of Medical IQ and Health 2.0 Middle East pπartner. The desired outcome of the conference is to develop concrete recommendations to accelerate the adoption of health innovation technologies in the GCC and Middle East, at large. Modernizing the healthcare ecosystem is a national priority that requires close collaboration and prioritization among all stakeholders, particularly with federal agencies .. For information and to register visit: http:bit.ly/health2dubai

About Medica IQ FZ, LLC
Based in Dubai, Medica IQ is a multi-disciplinary global Health 2.0 platform company, MedicaIQ (mIQ) offers a more convenient means to connect with health care consumers and health care professionals. Our targeted approach facilitates the needs of public health literacy by developing and delivering health behavior modification education products used in public health awareness and wellness programs. mIQ also offers a variety of customizable mobile and web based solutions. Learn more at: www.medicaiq.com.

About Health 2.0
Health 2.0: The conference. The media network. The innovation community. The Health 2.0 Conference is the leading showcase of cutting-edge innovation transforming the health care system and is the premiere platform connecting IT innovators to established health care providers. Health 2.0 covers the broadest spectrum of the technology revolution that is shaking up every sector of health care. Learn more at www.health2con.com.

For more information and media inquiries contact:
Yolanda Esparza
MedicaIQ, Dubai UAE
+971 555 0 971 36
yesparza@medicaiq.com

This release was published on openPR.