Here’s the last in our series of posts by and about the outstanding speakers we’ve lined up for the Society for Participatory Medicine’s second annual conference on Oct. 17 in Boston, attached to the prestigious Connected Health conference. Last chance: register here. (Our #SPM2018 blog series has more about the speakers and activities.)

In the segment of the SPM conference called “Data: I’ll Share Mine if you Share Yours,” you’ll find co-presenters who surely will spark conversation and debate.

One of those presenters is Ivan Handler, principal of insightamation, and former CTO of the Illinois Governor’s Office of Health Information Technology. Ivan is co-presenting “Putting the ‘Care’ Back in Healthcare: Technology-Supported Relationship,” with advocate and writer Casey Quinlan of Mighty Casey Media LLC.

Ivan is interested in creating a policy framework to make data sharing more useful, robust, and efficient. His deep knowledge of data has led him to develop innovative ideas to address data privacy, reliability, interoperability, and security.

I interviewed Ivan recently via email, posing questions that we put in front of a number of his other SPM co-presenters. Excerpts of our conversation follow:

What does the term ‘participatory medicine’ mean to you?  Participatory medicine means that patients and providers create a partnership for the patient’s care.  In this way the patient can better understand their medical status and can feel like they are in control of their lives rather than passively having to accept whatever a provider tells them.

What do you expect to be your main takeaways as a speaker at the SPM conference? I am hopeful that participants will come away with a better understanding of how technology can be better deployed in healthcare to improve the relationship between patient and provider.  And I hope they become advocates for using technology to further SPM’s goals.

What do you expect to get out of the SPM conference as an attendee? I am looking to expand my network and to meet others who may wish to join me in my attempt to create a fundable project for patient-oriented data sharing.

Join Us for #SPM2018 in Boston October 17

Learn more about SPM’s second annual conference on Oct. 17 in Boston or register here today ($100 for members, $150 for non-members). In our early years it’s priced as a great bargain for a full day. And see this blog’s #SPM2018 series for more about the speakers and activities.