I’m at the 7th annual Health Datapalooza event in Washington. What I have to say here about this conference is subjective, my gut feel, because I haven’t been at most of the previous ones, because they were largely about the business side of health data – there hasn’t been nearly enough focus on the people who actually have the problem: the patient and family.
This year’s different. It’s managed by a different organization (Academy Health), and a lot of strong patient voices are involved, on stage and behind the scenes. There’s a whole Consumer Track, in addition to all the business things going on. And yesterday we saw a speech by somebody who most definitely fits the category “the people who have the problem.”
Vice President Joe Biden’s son Beau died a year ago this month of glioblastoma, a nasty nasty brain cancer. For his talk I left the main room and went to a side viewing room so I could record it on my iPad.