The Subcommittees on Communications and Technology and Health, chaired by Rep. Greg Walden (R-OR) and Rep Joe Pitts (R-PA), respectively, have scheduled a joint hearing for Thursday, July 17, 2014, at 9:30 a.m. in room 2123 of the Rayburn House Office Building. The hearing is entitled “21st Century Technology for 21st Century Cures." Witnesses to be announced.
“Remarkable advancements in technology are transforming health care as we know it. Companies embracing telemedicine and mHealth solutions can bring patients, researchers, and doctors together in ways we never could have imagined just a decade ago. Learning how we can update our laws to foster new technologies and harness the power of these innovations to accelerate and strengthen the discovery, development, and delivery cycle of new cures and treatments is exactly what our #CommActUpdate and 21st Century Cures initiatives are all about," said full committee Chairman Fred Upton (R-MI). “The collaboration of the Health and Communications and Technology Subcommittees allows for an exciting conversation about what’s next and how we can best leverage our nation’s technological leadership to improve our health care system."
As Chairman Upton wrote in U.S. News and World Report in March, “Patients, doctors and scientists are now linked like never before. Today, these three disciplines - medicine, computers and social networks - have an unprecedented opportunity to collaborate as friends in a new way to help all of us to live longer, healthier lives." Members will hear from experts in both the health and technology fields regarding areas where the health care industry can take advantage of advances in technology to accelerate the #Path2Cures.
Committee members recently held a 21st Century Cures roundtable to discuss how digital health care can improve the cycle of cures. The Health Subcommittee has also recently explored how telehealth and digital medicine can improve the quality and accessibility of care for patients.as they are posted.
