There’s more to our decision to hold the 7th Annual Ix Conference (”WIxRED: Next-Generation Patient-Centered Care”) at the Newseum than its striking architecture, fabulous exhibits, and the media buzz (for example, in the New York Times and Washington Post) surrounding its recent opening.

The Newseum, an interactive museum of news celebrating the First Amendment, is dedicated to free access to information–a central theme to the information therapy (Ix) movement.

The unique nature of America’s commitment to the democratization of information became clear to me from reading Paul Starr’s excellent book, The Creation of the Media: Political Origins of Modern Communications. Starr’s thorough history of the evolution of the media in the United States and Europe demonstrates that it is no accident that the revolutionary idea of a constitutional right to a free press emanated in the U.S.

When I open the Ix conference next month, I’ll briefly describe some of the insights gained from Starr’s research, not only to connect Ix to the venue of our event. There are important implications of these findings for how we reform U.S. health care delivery. There also are several relevant parallels between the evolution of the American media and the trajectory of our future health care system.

The democratization of information offers the U.S. health care system a great American opportunity, but there are also potential perils if we do not maximize its potential. I hope you’ll join me and many innovative health care leaders for a rich agenda that will explore how we chart a reformed health care delivery system.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 2008 at 11:34 am and is filed under The Media and Information Therapy (Ix). You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.