ATHN Presentation Updates

ATHN continues to promote its activities to professionals in the public health community, most recently at the annual meeting of the American Public Health Association (APHA) in Philadelphia and in March 2010 at the National Conference on Blood Disorders in Public Health in Atlanta.

At the APHA conference, ATHN participated in a round table discussion on leveraging an electronic health information infrastructure for disaster preparedness, focusing on the design of the ATHNready program and the promise it holds for effective disaster preparedness and recovery.

ATHN will highlight the focus group findings for the ATHNready tools for disaster/emergency preparedness at The National Conference on Blood Disorders in Public Health next March. The conference, jointly sponsored by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities, Division of Blood Disorders, in partnership with the Health Resources and Services Administration, the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and the American Society of Hematology, is intended to serve as the catalyst for developing a nationally recognized public health framework for promoting the health of and improving outcomes among people at risk for or affected by a non-malignant blood disorder. ATHN’s presentation will focus on patient, family and provider responses to the following tools and templates developed for the ATHNready program:

• the ATHNready: Personal Health Report, delivered to patients on a wallet-sized USB flash drive produced via the new ATHN electronic information infrastructure;
• the interactive, web-based HTC Finder to help patients locate a treatment center anywhere in the U.S., its hours of operation and key contacts and
• a Care Continuity Plan template and guidebook for HTCs.

Mark your calendar to join us on March 9 – 11, 2010 in Atlanta.

ATHN Community Collaborations

The NHF annual meeting, the ATHN Community Liaison Group and the Industry Liaison Group meetings brought ATHN leadership face-to-face with patients, advocacy organizations, government partners and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry. Consistent with its intention to be open and transparent, ATHN used these venues to report on the milestones achieved in 2009 and to share plans for 2010. Endorsement for the rollout of the ATHNdataset, ATHNready and ATHNadvoy was top priority. Input into expansion of the ATHN Affiliate network and research agenda were top considerations for the future.