[AISWorld] CFP-AMCIS2011-MiniTrack: Smart Health and Wellbeing: Consumer-Centric Healthcare Systems

[Bengisu Tulu]

Track: Health Care IT

MiniTrack: Smart Health and Wellbeing: Consumer-Centric Healthcare Systems

Submission deadline: Thursday, February 17, 2011
Submissions system: http://mc.manuscriptcentral.com/amcis2011
AMCIS website: http://amcis2011.aisnet.org/

Mini-Track Description
http://amcis2011.aisnet.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=213&Itemid=34

Main Theme
The skyrocketing costs in healthcare coupled with the recent
government actions in the U.S. to provide insurance to some 50 million
uninsured people demand a new paradigm for healthcare. Similar
argument can be made for other nations as well. Through providing
consumers with low to no-cost easy access to their own health
information, we can begin to influence the way patients self-manage
their health.
The theme of this minitrack is Smart Health and Wellbeing with an
emphasis on the consumer centric health information systems that
empower patients to manage their health better and maintain a
healthier lifestyle. Smart Health Information Systems enable consumers
to take control of their own health and wellbeing. Examples of such
systems include several non-clinical technologies such as web-based
interfaces, mobile applications, social health technologies, medical
devices such as accelerometers and sensors. In addition, a number of
clinical consumer centric technologies support better health
management. Online health information portals, tele-health solutions,
personal health records (PHR) and persuasive technologies provide
consumers opportunities to manage their own care better and be active
participants in their care teams. It is important to study the design
requirements that are essential for usable consumer-centric health
information systems and successful implementations. Through studying
user expectations and attitudes towards these systems, we can better
guide implementations and policy decisions.
In this mini-track, research issues may involve health information
system architectures, specific healthcare technologies, and
socio-technical models that enable self-managed healthcare with
continuous education for a diverse set of populations including but
not limited to the urban poor, the unemployed, and the underserved
populations. A spectrum of research topics may be addressed from
different perspectives. A few perspectives include, but not limited
to, the following:
•	From the user perspective: Studying the acceptance and adoption of
these systems by healthcare professionals and patients will provide
insights for future implementations of patient-centric technologies.
Impacts of patient-centric systems in healthcare on issues such as
ownership, access control, and standards also need consideration.
Understanding the elements of managing personal data that is
electronically generated and stored for use by several entities
requires attention of IS researchers. Moreover, understanding the
behavioral root causes that lead to illnesses and complications that
result from illness is very important to the effectiveness and
efficiency of healthcare services delivery. How can these findings be
used to help consumers recognize the healthcare needs and be further
encapsulated into smart health information systems via the leverage of
existing information technologies are key to the cost containment, the
prevention of unnecessary waste, and the productivity of health care
services.
•	From the technology perspective: Many healthcare systems around the
world are failing under pressures of inefficiency, lack of access, and
overuse as populations age and fewer people have access to
preventative healthcare. Yet creating efficient and effective
healthcare systems architectures, models, and technologies to help
address particular issues is a monumental task. Any healthcare IT
system must strive to coordinate data from a myriad of sources, such
as incompatible databases in hospitals, individual, and group
practices along with Internet sources and paper records. However, it
must also integrate high-levels of security and maintain the
appropriate privacy controls (HIPAA mandated and otherwise) while
simultaneously being accessible to the patient and easy to use. Add to
this the need for a highly specialized multi-disciplinary team of
health care information management professionals to ensure that the
system maintains the confidentiality, integrity, and accessibility of
the health care data such that the right information is available to
the right patient at the right time for continuous education and
self-management. Studying the design, implementation, integration,
scalability, usability and accessibility issues in addition to the
challenges involved in creating standards is necessary. Utilization of
electronic records, online health information tools, and context aware
technologies is expected to introduce changes in the existing
workflows and processes. The recent Healthcare Reform bill in the U.S.
shifts reimbursement from fee-for-services to evidence-based pay for
performance. Hence smart technologies become the leverage for
prevention, and their interaction with the clinical EHR record should
be critically studied. Careful consideration of privacy, legal and
ethical issues will become essential for effective utilization of
these systems.
We invite papers that present studies addressing the above issues
using quantitative or qualitative methodologies.

Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
	•	Community Health Collaboration
	•	Community Healthcare Systems
	•	Consumer Healthcare informatics
	•	Devices and software that provides cognition augmentation
(including robotics)
	•	Economic analysis of smart health and wellbeing systems
	•	Health Education and Literacy
	•	Health Information Technology standard development.
	•	Health Information Management
	•	Health related social networking portals online
	•	Implementation case studies
	•	International, national, and/or regional policy implications on
design and operations of patient-centric health information systems
	•	Interoperability and federated management issues
	•	Mobile smart health solutions
	•	Patient self management
	•	Pervasive technologies for patients
	•	Quality improvement studies
	•	Security and Privacy of Patient Information Accessed via multiple devices
	•	Security, privacy and ethical use studies
	•	Smart home and elder-care technologies
	•	Social networking enabled technologies
	•	User acceptance of patient-centric systems by various stakeholders
(physicians, staff, patients)
	•	Visual and GIS enabled portals for patients

Minitrack Chairs
Bernard Han, Western Michigan University
Sharie Falan, Western Michigan University
Bengisu Tulu, Worcester Polytechnic Institute
Alan Rea, Western Michigan University
Samir Chatterjee, Claremont Graduate University

_____________________________
Bengisu Tulu, PhD
Assistant Professor of MIS, School of Business
Executive Council Member, CeHIPT (http://cehipt.wpi.edu)
Worcester Polytechnic Institute
100 Institute Rd. WB201
Worcester, MA 01609
Office: +1-508-831-5184
Fax: +1-508-831-5720
bengisu at wpi.edu