Connecting Wireless, Mobile and the Future of Healthcare: Healthcare Honchos Address Issues Head-on

Convergence Summit Runs May 10-12, 2011 in San Diego

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--How will advances in mobile technology improve access to healthcare in the U.S. and globally? What role will wireless technology play in improving productivity in healthcare? Will the new regulations outlined recently by the Health and Human Services department regarding Accountable Care Organizations (ACO’s) play a role? Wireless and mobile healthcare may well form the basis for new methods of healthcare delivery—for instance, “to treat an individual patient across care settings—including doctor's offices, hospitals, and long-term care facilities” (CMS Office of Media Affairs).

“The future of healthcare swirls into shape before your eyes.”

These and other wireless healthcare issues are to be the star subjects of the Convergence Summit, a three-day event to be held May 10-12, 2011 in San Diego, hosted by the Wireless-Life Sciences Alliance (WLSA) and its partner TripleTree, LLC.

Featured speakers include:

• Paul Jacobs, Ph.D, CEO of Qualcomm, who is slated to give the opening-day keynote on May 10, 2011;
• Bill McGuire, M.D., the former CEO of United Healthcare, who is to open the second day of the summit on May 11, 2011;
• Harry Greenspun, M.D., chief medical officer at Dell, kicks off the final day on May 12, 2011.

A post-lunch keynote on May 12 is to feature Dan Buettner, the New York Times best-selling author of, most recently, Thrive: Finding Happiness in the Blue Zones Way (National Geographic, 2010).

The Convergence Summit is an exclusive gathering of executives, investors, developers and policy makers who come together annually to address issues of advancing innovations in wireless and mobile healthcare technology. Other speakers include John Kelliher, The Marwood Group; Richard Migliori, Optum; Preetha Reddy, Apollo Health Systems; and Tien Tzuo, Zuora.

“Wireless coverage is nearly ubiquitous within the U.S. and many parts of the world. This opens up opportunities for advancing healthcare globally in ways we haven’t even dreamed of,” says TripleTree senior director and chief marketing officer Chris Hoffmann.

WLSA organizers devote each day to a forward-looking theme about uniting wireless and healthcare. Conference themes for this, the sixth annual Convergence Summit, include “Defining a global platform for wireless and mobile health” (Day 1), “Best approaches for streamlining patient-doctor interactions” (Day 2) and “The convergence of mobile and cloud, and the simplification of healthcare solutions” (Day 3). Day 2 also features the presentation of the third annual I Awards, sponsored exclusively by TripleTree, for innovation in wireless healthcare.

Several lively forums dovetail with the conference themes; the forums are open exchanges, with executives, innovators, investors and others brainstorming the topics. No PowerPoint presentations allowed!

Conference participants for the three days of forums include representatives from large and small companies on the cutting edge of the convergence of wireless and healthcare. A sampling of participating companies includes Appirio, Ascension Health, AT&T, Banner Health, CareFusion, Dell, EmpowHER, Healthagen, InstyMeds, WhiteGlove House Call, Johnson & Johnson, Jitterbug, Mental Workout, Optum, Procter and Gamble, RehabCare, Teladoc and Telcare. A total of 300-400 participants are expected to attend the summit.

“When we put all these people in the same room—innovators and users, entrepreneurs and HMO chiefs, technology wizards and policy wonks—the mix is exhilarating,” TripleTree’s Hoffmann says. “The future of healthcare swirls into shape before your eyes.”

The WLSA is an international nonprofit think tank that puts CEOs from the world’s most innovative wireless and mobile health companies together with global leaders in healthcare and technology and financial sponsors.

TripleTree, LLC, a founding member of the WLSA, is an independent investment bank and strategic advisor providing growth companies in healthcare and other technology-enabled vertical industries with merger and acquisition, private capital and principal investing services.

For more information about the 2011 WLSA Convergence Summit, go to http://www.wlsa2011.com.

For media inquires, contact Mantra Public Relations, [phone], Gaye Carleton, [e-mail].