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Medical Technology Policy Committee

 

The Medical Technology Policy Committee (MTPC) is a focal point bringing the expertise of IEEE-USA to address national policy issues such as health care and wellness. The primary objective of the MTPC is to assist in the rational formulation of medical technology legislation, regulation, and policy in the U.S. The Committee attempts to accomplish this goal by preparing and presenting positions in accordance with IEEE-USA procedures. MTPC works to address various aspects of health and wellness activities affecting public policy in the country by relying on the professional and technical knowledge of IEEE members.

Priority Issues & Activities

• Health Information Technology including Electronic Medical Records and Personal Health Records

• National Health Information Network: Implementation Issues/Interoperability

• Geriatric and Long Term Care

• RFID

• Genetic Discrimination

• Privacy and Security

MTPC's work in progress includes drafting of new or revised position statements and white paper on:

• Quality of Health Information on the Internet

• Reducing Medical Errors

Position Statements

The following medical technology policy related positions have been adopted by IEEE-USA:

• Addressing the Health Care Needs of our Aging Population With Technology (Nov. 2005)
• Interoperability of the National Health Information Network (Nov. 2005)
• Homeland Security Operations and Use of Personally Identifiable Health Information (June 2005)
• National Health Information Network, with Emphasis on Security and Privacy Issues (June 2005)
• Support for Bioinformatics Infrastructure and Technology (Nov. 2005)
• Home Health Care Technologies (November 2004)
• Nondiscrimination in Employment Based on Genetic and Other Health Information (June 2008)
• Privacy (Sept. 2003) - Under Review
• U.S. Government Advisory Entities Concerned with Health Related Issues (Feb. 2002) - Under Review
• Universal Access (Nov. 2003) - Under Review
• Voluntary Health Care Identifier (June 2004)

White Paper

• "Interoperability for the National Health Information Network"
  November 2005, can be purchased through the IEEE-USA Shop for $4.95 member price; $19.95 nonmember. Members can click on the login link, click on the "shop" tab, and then click on the product title to obtain the member discount.

Policy Communications

• Letter to President Zoë Baird of The Markle Foundation endorsing the principles set forth in "Connecting for Health Principles: Common Framework for Networked Personal Health Information." (20 August 2008)
  
  
• Letter to House Energy and Commerce Committee endorsing the PRO(TECH)T Act of 2008 (H.R. 6357) and its provisions to promote the adoption of health information technology. (06 August 2008)
  
  
• Letter to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions endorsing the "Wired for Health Care Quality Act” (S.1693). (16 June 2008)
  
  
• Letter to Bill Sponsors and Key Leaders expressing appreciation for their leadership in securing passage of The Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (H.R. 493, S. 358). (21 May 2008)
  
  
• Letter to Rep. Gordon providing input on his pending health information technology legislation (H.R. 2406). (19 May 2008)
  
  
• Letter to Rep. Eshoo providing input on her pending health information technology legislation (H.R. 3800). (19 May 2008)
  
  
• Coalition letter by the Genetic Alliance to the U.S. Senate urging passage of the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (GINA) (S.358). (14 April 2008)
  
  
• Letter to Rep. Dennis Moore, congratulating him for introducing H.R. 2991, the Independent Health Record Trust Act of 2007. H.R. 2991 establishes the development of non-governmental repositories for patients’ health records.  (3 April 2008)
  
  
• Letter to the U.S. Senate endorsing the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act (S.358). (2 November 2007)
  
  
• Letter to Rep. Bart Gordon endorsing H.R. 2406, legislation "to authorize the National Institute of Standards and Technology to increase its efforts in support of the integration of the health care information enterprise in the United States." (31 October 2007)
   
• Letter to key House/Senate leaders outlining need for health care legislation, including provisions related to use of information technology to ensure quality and reliability of health care delivery. (12 February 2007)
   
• Letter to Rep. Louise Slaughter and selected sponsors endorsing the Genetic Information Non-discrimination Act (H.R. 493).
  (8 February 2007)
   
• IEEE-USA letter and comments to the NIH Office of Biotechnology Activities in response to a call for public comments on the draft report, “Policy Issues Associated with Undertaking a Large U.S. Population Cohort Project on Genes, Environment and Disease.” (25 July 2006)
   
• IEEE-USA letter to Rep. Nancy Johnson, Chair, Committee on Ways and Means Health Subcommittee, endorsing the Health Information Technology Promotion Act of 2006 (H.R. 4157).”  (20 July 2006)
   
• Letter was sent to key Members of Congress and the Administration forwarding the whitepaper, "Interoperability for the National Health Information Network." (20 March 2006)
   
• Statement to the House Subcommittee on the Federal Workforce and Agency Organization for a hearing on the Federal Family Health Information Technology Act of 2006 (H.R. 4859). (15 March 2006)
   
• Coalition letter through Genetic Alliance to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration asking FDA to issue regulations for a genetic testing specialty under the Clinical Laboratory Improvement Amendments (CLIA) of 1988. (14 March 2006)
   
• Coalition Letter supporting increased federal funding for public health research in FY07 budget. (30 January 2006)
   
• Letter to the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor & Pensions endorsing the Wired for Health Care Quality Act (S. 1418). (8 August 2005)
  
• Statement/testimony concerning Health Information Technology for the record of a 30 June 2005 hearing by the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Technology Innovation & Competitiveness. (30 June 2005)
   
• Letter to Senate Majority Leader Frist urging passage of a patient safety bill and endorsing the General Principles for Patient Safety Reporting Systems. (24 June 2005)
   
• Letter to Administration officials supporting formation of the National Health Information Infrastructure.  (24 June 2005)
   
• Letter congratulating AMIA on their efforts to create awareness and promote adoption of Electronic Health Records. (21 June 2005)
   
• Letter to House and Senate sponsors indicating support for the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2005 (S.306/H.R. 1227).  (21 April 2005)
   
• Letter to Rep. Jim Turner (R-Tx) expressing support for the Rapid Pathogen Identification to the Delivery of Cures Act (H.R. 4258). (22 June 2004)
   
• Special distribution of the Jan-Feb 2004 issue of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society magazine on Homeland Security to key Executive Branch officials and Members of Congress. (11 May 2004)
   
• Letter to Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions recommending additions to the Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2003 (S. 1053). (18 June 2003)
   
• Letter to the Department of Health and Human Services nominating Michael J. Rozen, MD, for membership to the National Committee on Vital and Health Statistics (NCVHS) (14 April 2003)
   
• Letters to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Director of the National Institutes of Health encouraging appointment of engineers to NIH commissions, committees and other advisory bodies.  (20 Sept. 2002)
   
• Comments to the Department of Health and Human Services regarding proposed modifications to the HHS Standards for "Privacy of Individually Identifiable Health Information."  (26 April 2002)
   
• Letter to the President's Office of Management and Budget encouraging budget support for participation by Federal employees in voluntary standards development efforts.  (28 Feb. 2002)
   
• Letter to Gov. Tom Ridge, Director of the Office of Homeland Security, on the importance of information technology and networking for Homeland Security missions related to public health and disaster management. ( 07 Feb. 2002)
   

Conferences and Presentations

24-25 Sep. 2007- "Strategy for Health Care Through Bio and Information Standards and Technologies," held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) in Gaithersburg, MD; co-sponsored by IEEE-USA, IEEE
Biotechnology Council and NIST.

Report

PowerPoint Presentations (Available to-date):

• "The Role of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics in FDA's Critical Path Initiative"
  Janet Woodcock, Deputy Commissioner of Operations, FDA
  
  "Biotech 2007: A Global Transformation"
  Steven Burrill, CEO, Burrill & Company
  
  "Approaches to Developing Government R&D Programs"
  Gregory Tassey, Senior Economist, NIST
  
  "The Potential of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics for Public Health" Anthony Arundel, SGEAU, OECD
  
  Assessing Emerging Technology Benefits and Barriers Roundtable" David Whitlinger, President & Board Chairman, Continua
  
  Deepak Ayyagari, Secretary, Continua Health Alliance; Principal Scientist, Persoanl Healthcare Technologies, Sharp

More of the PowerPoint and Video presentations from the conference can be found at the NIST webpage as they become available -- www.itl.nist.gov/Healthcare/conf/presentations.htm

20-22 April 2007 - Fourth International Conference on Ethical Issues in Biomedical Engineering, Brooklyn, New York.

18-19 Oct. 2006 - A report by Dr. Mark Ginsburg, Seventh Rank Associates, on the National Summit, “Moving Toward Interoperability: Technologies for Accessible, Affordable Healthcare,” held at the National Institute of Standards and Technology, Gaithersburg, Maryland, on October 18-19, 2006.

30 Aug. - 3 Sep. 2006 - The Medical Technology Policy Committee and the Critical Infrastructure Protection ad hoc committee co-sponsored a special symposium on "Critical (Medical) Information Protection: A Privacy/Security Information Assurance Debate" as part of the IEEE EMBC 2006 Conference held on September 2, in New York City.

Presentation by Frank Ferrante on "Maintaining Security and Privacy of Patient Information" [abstract]  [PowerPoint presentation]

Luis Kun, Frank Ferrante, Gouenou Coatrieux and Pradeep Ray

Luis Kun, IEEE-USA Medical Technology Policy Committee

Gouenou Coatrieux, presenter

Frank Ferrante, IEEE-USA Medical Technology Policy Committee

Presentation by Thomas Jepson on Interoperability for the National Health Information Network (July 2005) (PPT)

MTPC joined with Intel and Mitretek in hosting an IT and Public Policy Symposium on Addressing the Needs of Our Aging Population With Technology on 4 June 2004. The Final Report is now available.

MTPC joined with other societies in sponsoring a series of Congressional briefings on bioterrorism. The first of the series, Vulnerability and Security Responding to Chemical and Biological Terrorism, was held on Capitol Hill, Washington, DC, on Nov. 14, 2001.

MTPC co-sponsored the RAND Science and Technology Policy Institute's Summit on "Information Technology Infrastructure for Bioterrorism" held on Nov. 14, 2001 in Washington, DC.  The summit brought together public and private stakeholders to define IT infrastructure needs for the Public Health Service and other key agencies involved in the response to bioterrorism.  For more information, contact Helga Rippen, Director, RAND STPI (and former MTPC chair) at helga_rippen@rand.org.

As a co-sponsor of The Symposium on Applications and the Internet - SAINT 2001, held in San Diego-Mission Valley, California, January 9-11 2001, the IEEE-USA Medical Technology Policy Committee presented a "Workshop on Global Telehealth/Telemedicine and the Internet.  Presentations are collected below and available for download as Powerpoint (PPT) or Portable Display Format (PDF) files:

Keynote Presentations: US and European Perspective
on Telemedicine/Telehealth

• HHS Perspective on Telemedicine and Telehealth — Dena Puskin, Health and Human Services (466Kb PPT)
 
• World Health Organization Perspective on Telemedicine and Telehealth in Today's Internet Environment — Salah H. Mandil, World Health Organization (Freelance File — Download Freelance Mobile Screen Show Player to view)
   
• PAHO Perspective on E-Health — Roberto Rodrigues, Pan American Health Organization (5.5Mb PPT)
Global Activities in Telemedicine
 
• Internet in the Health System of Italy — Riccardo Bernardon (1.98Mb PPT)
   
• Convergence of Medical Devices, Telehealth and eDisease Management:  Emerging Successful Business and Clinical Models — Vince Kuraitis, Better Health Technologies, LLC (1.6Mb PPT)

• Approaches to Meeting HIPAA and Patient Privacy Regulations Using PKI — Frank Ferrante, Chair IEEE-USA MTPC, Member of ComCert, Inc. Advisory Board, AEIC Computer Society IT Professional Magazine (2.5Mb PPT)

• Industry's Response to Self-Regulation — Mike Rozen, VP Wellmed, Hi Ethics Member, Vice Chair IEEE-USA MTPC (1Mb PPT)
   
• Ethics and the Internet — Helga E. Rippen, MD, PhD, MPH, Workshop Co-Chair, E-Health Ethics Initiative, Chair, Internet Healthcare Coalition, Director of Medical Informatics, Pfizer Health Solutions, Inc. (96Kb PPT)

• Assessment and Medical Outcomes Using Wireless Technology and Internet — Jim Svetz, Director, Outreach Program, Medimon.com (430Kb PPT)
   
• Assessment of Data Warehousing in Healthcare — Warren Sterling, Rose Cintron-Allen, J. Ostling, NCR Teradata Solutions Group (2Mb PPT)

How To for Telemedicine/Telehealth - Training Session Presentations

• Collaboration for an Effective Telehealth Project — Catherine Bruno, FACHE, Medicalis, Inc. (586Kb PPT)
   
• Funding Opportunities in Telemedicine — Holly Russo, Independent Consultant (190Kb PPT)

Telemedicine in the New Millennium - Medical/Technical Advances Using Internet

• E-Care: Made Possible by Technologic Convergence — Ron Pion, Medical Telecommunications Associates (4.9MB PPT)
   
• Telehealth Applications at a Burn Center — Lynn D. Solem, Burn Center Director, Regions Hospital (2Mb PPT)

Committee Organization

• Chair:  Thomas Jepsen
• Vice Chair: Mark Ginsburg
• Staff: Deborah Rudolph

Forthcoming Meetings

The committee normally meets three times a year in the IEEE-USA offices in Washington, DC, from 10:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. (EST).

Consult the IEEE-USA Calendar or contact Deborah Rudolph, d.rudolph@ieee.org, for future meeting dates and details.

The Medical Technology Policy Committee (MTPC) invites IEEE U.S. members who have an interest in public policy coupled with relevant expertise in the field of medical technology and who are willing to be active contributors to the committee's activities to join the committee as an Internet Corresponding Member. As an ICM, you will be invited to recommend committee activities, comment on draft position statements and testimonies, and otherwise participate in the business of the committee. To become an ICM, please provide a brief description of your interest and expertise in this area (no more that 250 words) and submit to:

Deborah Rudolph
IEEE-USA
1828 L Street, N.W.
Suite 1202
Washington, DC 20036
(Office) 202-530-8332
(Fax) 202-785-0835
(Email) d.rudolph@ieee.org

Deborah Rudolph
(Office) 202-785-0017, ext. 8332
(Email) d.rudolph@ieee.org

• The American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering (AIMBE) promotes the fields of medical and biological engineering through public awareness and government relations.
• The American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) seeks to enhance health care through information technology.
• The Biomedical Engineering Resource Network (BMEnet) provides news and information on publications, conferences, jobs, and grant opportunities in the field of biomedical engineering.
• IEEE's Committee on Man and Radiation (COMAR) is a technical committee of the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society (EMBS) and is comprised of experts on health and safety issues related to electromagnetic fields, from powerline through microwave frequency ranges.
• The Genetic Alliance is a coalition of more than 600 advocacy, research and health care organizations that represent millions of individuals with genetic conditions and their interests.
• The Internet Health Care Coalition identifies and promotes quality health care resources on the Internet.
• Office of the National Coordinator for Health/AHIC - Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Michael O. Leavitt announced the membership for the American Health Information Community (AHIC), to help advance efforts to reach the President's call for most Americans to have electronic health records within ten years.
• National Institute of Biomedical Engineering and Bioengineering (National Institutes of Health)
• National Library of Medicine's NGI and Telemedicine Projects.
• Research!America is a broad alliance of non-profit organizations working to make health and medical research a higher national priority.
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration and its Medical Devices and Radiological Health home page.

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Updated: 21 August 2008
Contact: Deborah Rudolph, d.rudolph@ieee.org
 

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