Engaging patients in their health is a never ending battle, but often trusted providers are those best-positioned to make an impact. In this session, we saw tools that connect providers to their patients in a variety of ways to encourage them to actively manage their health whether it be physical, financial, and emotional.

Kerry McDermott represented session sponsor West Health and opened the session “Big Data: Tools and Applications for Transforming Care.” Matthew Holt and Indu Subaiya moderated the panel of speakers who presented how their respective companies are addressing the integration of Big Data into physician work-flow, patient-provider communications, and extending the use of EMRs to transform health care. Speakers Colin Hill, Francois de Brantes, Lloyd Dean, Aaron Levie, Chalie Wiggins, Richard Roth, and Frank Williams were joined by demos from Allscripts, athenahealth, drchrono, Box, NotOnly Dev, Alere, and IBM.

VP, Clinical Integration at Alere, Helen Figge demonstrated how Alere’s ACS platform is unifying data into one relevant place.  The data is in real-time, supports health care initiatives and healthy living, and also prevents readmission. The platform contains all data including labs, medications, history, etc.

David Hansen, Director of Business Development, NutritionQuest

David is here talking about Alive, an evidence-based program targeting health change after nutritional and physical activity. Using small-step goals to help consumers achieve a sense of self-accomplishment, NutritionQuest employes lifestyle questions which leads to individual proposals each week on ways to improve their health.

Devika Singh, VP, Solutions Architecture & User Experience, Alere

Putting the individual in the center of what they’re doing, Alere focuses on the concept that people want to be involved in improving their own health. By creating a personal profile that includes educational information and incentives, Alere’s goal is to put self-care back on the agenda.

This panel gives an exposure to six leading edge Health 2.0 companies who are driving new techniques into the health and wellness space. Each presenter only has 3.5 minutes to introduce their product, to give a general overview to some of the breaking-edge technology and ideas that are working to improve general health.

We’ll take a look physician adoption of clinical groupware, including online encounters and patient communication, and examine what type of technology use will qualify as part of “meaningful use.” Moderated by: Julie Murchinson from Health 2.0 Accelerator, and featuring Howard Steinberg (Chief Executive Officer, dLife), Ellen Badinelli (Chief Enthusiast and Owner, ScanAvert), Alexandra Drane (President, Eliza), Mike Kirkwood (Chief Executive Officer, Polka), Erick Von Schweber (Executive Co-Chair, SurveyorHEALTH), and Matt Parker (Vice President, DestinationRx).

Geoff Hyatt, VP Business Development, Alere (formerly RMD Networks)

RMD Networks is one of the new leaders in providing a platform for patient-physician communication applications, including Reach My Doctor and the Carespace. In early 2010 it was acquired by Alere to extend the DM giant’s reach into the physician arena, and CEO Steve Adams is prominent in the Clinical Groupware Collaborative. Geo is an early investor in RMD, now working there running business development—that is when he’s not pursuing his real calling of being a youth soccer coach.

Jane Sarasohn-Kahn of THINK-Health kicks off  “The Role of Consumers in Health 2.0” panel discussion. Jane is a health economist who delivers insight about trends, technology, and policy to clients across health care. Panelists include representatives from About.com, Alere, Markle Foundation, and the US Health and Human Services Office of Disease Prevention and Health Promotion.