Standard Register, a leader in managing critical communications across the continuum of care, is presenting a special session on Patient-Centered Communications at the iHT2 Health IT Summit, which will be held April 24-25 at the Historic Academy of Medicine at Georgia Tech in Atlanta, GA.

The invitation-only event, which will host more than 200 C-level executives from hospitals, health systems and larger physician practices from around the region, will focus on "Health IT in Practice: Strategies for a Next Generation Healthcare System."

The Standard Register breakout session will feature Aaron Fink, MD, professor emeritus of surgery at Emory University School of Medicine and attending surgeon at the VA Medical Center in Atlanta, and Tim Kelly, vice president of Dialog Medical, a Standard Register company and innovative software developer that is transforming informed consent and patient education processes with its iMedConsent application.

The two will present four strategies for leveraging existing health information technology to help make patients better partners in their care. They will cite specific examples of how pre-procedural instructions, consent documents, a National Quality Forum-endorsed teach-back practice and proper discharge instructions are being used to improve outcomes and lower the rate of preventable readmissions.

A governor in the American College of Surgeons who has previously served on the National Surgical Quality Improvement Program (NSQIP) National Executive Committee, Dr. Fink was the co-principal investigator of the VA Health Services Research and Development-sponsored, multi-site study investigating the potential benefits of "teach-back" within a computerized informed consent program. Insights from that research will be shared in the presentation.

"As the healthcare industry moves toward a value-based model of accountable care, and providers intensify efforts to improve outcomes and reduce readmissions, effective patient and family engagement is essential," said Brad Cates, president of Standard Register Healthcare. "Through this program, we hope to provide summit participants with evidence-based approaches that can be followed to bring about a measurable improvement in patient outcomes."