Featuring Erik Larsen, MD, FACEP, who will deliver a first-person account of emergency care in New Orleans in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.

Luncheon Speaker: Ian Morrison, consultant, futurist, and author of Health Care in the New Millennium: Vision, Values, and Leadership.

Dr. Larsen served as Medical Director, National Disaster Medical System (NDMS) for New Orleans International Airport, Hurricane Katrina. He is Associate Director of the Emergency Department at White Plains Hospital Center. He recently returned from the Jehlum Valley, Pakistan, where he spent several weeks assisting Kashmiri earthquake survivors.

Mr. Morrison founded Strategic Health Perspectives (SHP), a health industry forecasting service, together with Harris Interactive and the Harvard School of Public Health's Department of Health Policy and Management. He is President Emeritus of the Institute of the Future and Chair of IFTF's Health Advisory Panel.

The link between poor emergency care in the wake of Hurricane Katrina and the nation's inability to provide health care for everyone will be examined at "After Katrina: Achieving Access and Equity in Health Care," a conference sponsored by the Hudson Center for Health Equity & Quality (Hcheq) and Hudson Health Plan. The focus will be how information technology and policy can be used to improve the nation's health care system. In addition to the Keynote and Luncheon speakers, the conference will host a panel discussion, "Can Information Technology Be Harnessed to Improve Health Care Access and Quality?" moderated by Georganne Chapin, President and CEO of Hudson Health Plan and founder of Hcheq. Panelists will provide an in-depth look at possible information technology solutions and policy changes. The panelists and topics are:

Deborah Bachrach, JD, Partner, Government & Regulatory Health Care Industry, Manatt, Phelps & Phillips; "Disaster Relief and Emergency Medicaid: Lessons from New York's Experience after 9/11"

Carol C. Diamond, MD, MPH, Managing Director, Health Program, The Markle Foundation; "Accessing Medical Information Anywhere, Anytime: Lessons of KatrinaHealth.org"

Lori Evans, Acting THINC RHIO Director, and A. John Blair, III, MD, President and CEO of Taconic Independent Physician Association; "Building Regional Health Information Organizations for Better Medical Care, and How One RHIO is Developing"

Mehul Dalal, MD, MSc, Clinical Instructor, General Internal Medicine, Bellevue Hospital Center, New York University and incoming Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar, Yale University; "Separating Hope from Hype: The Limits of Health Information Technology"

This Activity has been planned and implemented in accordance with the Essential Areas and Policies of the Accreditation Council for Continuing Medical Education (ACCME) through the joint sponsorship of CME Consultants, Inc. and Hudson Health Plan. CME Consultants, Inc. is accredited by the ACCME to provide continuing medical education for physicians. CME Consultants, Inc. designates this educational activity for a maximum of 4.5 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s)(tm). Additionally, as an accredited provider of continuing nursing education by the American Nurses Credentialing Center's Commission on Accreditation, CME Consultants has designated this program for 5.4 contact hours.