ANN ARBOR—With the initial round of hype and chaos behind us, the power of the tool remains—“Internet” is synonymous with a faster, cheaper, more accurate form of communication than we have ever known. The Internet has the potential to dramatically alter all aspects of health care, from the doctor-patient relationship to medical records keeping to insurance administration.

“E-Health: Future or Folly” is scheduled for Oct. 11-12, hosted by the University of Michigan‘s School of Public Health Department of Health Management and Policy as its alumni biennial conference. This conference will address a wide range of topics where health care and Internet converge, including patient care, purchasing, insurance design and consulting services.

“The Internet will change health care in the next five years, making 1999 as out-of-date as 1949. At the symposium, we are bringing together people with a wide variety of experience to reveal the potential and the problems,” said John Griffith, the Andrew Pattullo Collegiate Professor of Health Management and Policy and chair of the conference planning committee.

Among the speakers on the agenda are Victor Strecher, chief scientific officer of HealthMedia, addressing the topic of consumer-focused e-health; Karl Bartscht, managing director of Epsilon Health Group, talking about progress on the automated medical record; and Marianne Udow, senior vice president at Blue Cross Blue Shield of Michigan, Marc Hallee, a health care consultant at Hewitt.com, and Marshall Rozzi, president and CEO of Planlinx.com, discussing insurance-focused information support.

For a full conference schedule and biographies of speakers, visit http://www.sph.umich.edu/hmp/alumni/biennial/.

Cost to attend is $400 for those who register by Sept. 10, $450 thereafter, while retiree life members of the SPH alumni group pay $125 and cost to students is $200. To register, contact Lynne Weber at (734) 763-9903 or lweber@umich.edu, or Joyce Blair-Hall at (734) 936-1304 or blairh@umich.edu.

To learn about the U-M Department of Health Management and Policy, ranked number one in 2001 and in every year since U.S. News and World Report began ranking health administration programs in 1994, go to http://www.sph.umich.edu/hmp/. For more information on the U-M School of Public Health, an institution that focuses on preventing disease and promoting the health of populations in the United States and worldwide, visit http://www.sph.umich.edu.

University of MichiganJohn GriffithVictor Strecherhttp://www.sph.umich.edu/hmp/alumni/biennial/lweber@umich.eduU.S. News and World Report