A recently concluded inaugural healthcare information technology and management conference has acknowledged the need to improve and increase IT spending for better healthcare delivery.

The inaugural healthcare information technology and management conference, organised by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Middle East, concluded this successful, educational event with representatives from the region’s health ministries and healthcare providers.

“The HIMSS Middle East 09 Healthcare & IT Management Excellence conference brought together 337 attendees from 26 countries in this first event in the Gulf region," said H Stephen Lieber, CAE, HIMSS president/CEO.

"Attendees and exhibitors alike have indicated that hallmark of the conference was the strong programming, focused healthcare IT education, and targeted exhibits that provided valuable connections to EMR product solutions they expected and wanted," Lieber added.

The three-day conference began with a symposium on how IT links insurance programmes with healthcare organisations, highlighting issues such as achieving integration between provider and client, as well as improving the claims processing procedure with the integration of technology.

“Underscoring the effective and timely deployment of technology in healthcare, key decision makers and leaders in the healthcare sector agreed to step up investment and focus on upgrading IT standards relative to the provision and delivery of healthcare services,” said Majid Al-Tuwaijri, executive director, College of Public Health and Health Informatics King Saud bin Abdulaziz University for Health Sciences, Saudi Arabia.

“The healthcare sector in the region is one of the fastest growing worldwide, and we need to keep pace with the advances in technology that are relevant to the healthcare industry,” he added.

As the healthcare industry’s leading membership organisation advocating the optimal use of healthcare IT and management systems for the betterment of healthcare, HIMSS also organised education sessions for conference attendees that discussed various tracks offered in clinical IT, healthcare/HIT management and IT applications.

The next HIMSS Middle East conference is confirmed for November 15 to 17 in Muscat, Oman. – TradeArabia News Service