The 4th Annual World Healthcare Innovation and Technology Congress (WHIT v.4.0) convening over 400 healthcare executives pushes the discussion to a higher level to center on the next generation of innovation and technology as defined through the analysis of a focused and growing set of best resources for innovation and creativity.

Many in healthcare discuss the tipping point, but 2008 promises to be the year when healthcare IT is truly enabled – and taken from concept to practice. Scheduled on the heels of a historic presidential election, WHIT v.4.0 is positioned to be this year’s must-attend innovation and technology conference for healthcare C-suite executives and thought leaders.

2008 Congress Chairmen
Mohan Nair Executive Vice President, Chief Marketing Executive The Regence Group	John C. Wade Executive Director Kansas City Regional Electronic Exchange (KCREE); President, JCWade and Associates, LLC; Retired Vice President and former Chief Information Officer, St. Luke’s Health System
Keynote Speakers Confirmed to Date
George C. Halvorson Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan, Inc. and Kaiser Foundation Hospitals; Partners in Care Foundation 2008 Mathies Award Recipient	Tom Burns Chief Operating Officer, Enterprise Business Group Alcatel-Lucent
Newt Gingrich former Speaker, U.S. House of Representatives; Founder, Center for Health Transformation	Peter Neupert Corporate Vice President, Health Solutions Group Microsoft Corporation
Jim Carroll, Masters of Business Imagination (MBI) Leading International Futurist, Trends & Innovation Expert, Columnist, and Author, Ready, Set, Done: How to Innovate When Faster is the New Fast
Speakers Confirmed To Date
Hospitals/Health Systems/Payers
Michael I. Bernstein Senior Vice President and Chief Financial Officer Valley Medical Center	Jim Bureau Vice President, Chief Sales and Marketing Officer Shared Health
William A. Fera, MD Vice President of Medical Technologies University of Pittsburgh Medical Center	Steven R. Garske Vice President and Chief Information Officer Children’s Hospital - Los Angeles
Maggie Gunter, PhD President and Executive Director Lovelace Clinic Foundation	Grant Harrison Vice President, Integrated Consumer Experience Humana, Inc.
Ori J. Karev President, Cross Border Solutions UnitedHealth Group International	Vipul Kashyap, PhD Director, Clinical Programs CIGNA
John Kontor, MD Chief Medical Officer and Chief Informatics Leader Bon Secours Health System, Inc.	Timothy McNamara, MD, MPH Medical Director, Center for Healthcare Informatics University of Kansas School of Medicine
Tami Merryman, RN, MSN, FACHE Vice President, Center for Quality Improvement and Innovation University of Pittsburgh Medical Center	Peter Mills Chief Medical Officer Cigna Vielife Division (Tentative Confirmation)
Dawn Owens Chief Executive Officer OptumHealth	Anna-Lisa Silvestre Vice President, Online Services Kaiser Permanente
Jay Srini, MS, MBA, FHIMSS Chief Innovation Officer, Insurance Services Division University of Pittsburgh Medical Center	Bruce H. Taffel, MD Chief Medical Officer Government Business and Emerging Markets Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee
Henry Weil, MD Medical Director, Informatics Bassett Healthcare	Jack Wolf President and Chief Executive Officer, Emerging Health Information Technology; Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Montefiore Medical Center
Douglas Wood, MD Vice Chair, Department of Medicine; Chair, Health Care Policy Group Mayo Clinic	Brian Yount, MD, FAAP Assistant Professor, Program Director, Internal Medicine/Pediatric University of Oklahoma – Tulsa
Government/Policy
Richard O. Dolinar, MD Senior Fellow, Health Care Policy The Heartland Institute	Lori Evans Deputy Commissioner, Office of Health Information Technology Transformation New York State Department of Health (Tentative Confirmation)
Valerie Fleishman Executive Director New England Healthcare Institute	Bethany Gilboard Director, Health Technologies Massachusetts Technology Collaborative
John C. Goodman, PhD President National Center for Policy Analysis (NCPA)	Hon Pak, MD Director, Advanced Information Technology Group (AITG) U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command; Telemedicine & Advanced Research Center (TATRC) President, American Telemedicine Association (ATA)
Debbie Somers Senior Advisor, Office of the Deputy Commissioner for Systems Social Security Administration	Andrew C. von Eschenbach, MD Commissioner U.S. Food and Drug Administration
Financial/Academic
Lawton R. Burns, PhD James Joo-Kin Kim Professor; Professor of Health Care Systems and Management; Chairperson, Health Care Systems Department; Director, Wharton Center for Health Management and Economics, University of Pennsylvania; Co-author, The Business of Healthcare Innovation: How New Products Come to Market	Frederick Frank Vice Chairman and Director Lehman Brothers Inc.
Mark Rothstein, JD Herbert F. Boehl Chair of Law and Medicine; Director, Institute for Bioethics, Health Policy and Law University of Louisville School of Medicine
Technology Solutions
Jeffrey Cunningham Chief Technology and Strategy Officer Informatics Corporation of America (ICA)	David Fletcher Director, Product Development Emerging Health Information Technology
Roy Schoenberg, MD, MPH Chief Executive Officer American Well Systems	MaryAnn Stump, RN President, Consumer Aware; Senior Vice President and Chief Innovation Officer, Blue Cross Blue Shield of Minnesota
Allen R. Wenner, MD Vice President Primetime Medical Software
Other Thought Leaders
Robert L. Siciliano Chief Executive Officer, IDTheftSecurity.com; Personal Security and Identity Theft Expert and Author, The Safety Minute: 01; Editorial Board Member, Bank Fraud & IT Security Report	Harry Wang Research Analyst Parks Associates

2008 Advisory Board Thought Leaders: