Health Watch USA to hold major conference on health-care transparency and patient safety Friday, Nov. 13 in Lexington

Health Watch USA will hold its annual conference, "Healthcare Transparency & Patient Safety," Nov. 13 at the Four-Points Sheraton in Lexington, Kentucky. The Somerset-based organization tries to promote health care value, transparency, quality and patient advocacy, says its website.

The conference will address the importance of full disclosure and its importance to both the patient and in quality assurance; the lax oversight of medical device safety; the importance of strong infectious disease safety standards; healthcare policy issues that came to light during the Ebola Outbreaks in the U.S.; and the current problems related to healthcare quality assurance. Click here for the agenda.

Keynote speakers include Peter Eisler, investigative reporter for USA Today, who will discuss the newspaper's role in assurance of medical quality; Briana Aguirre, nurse and health-care quality advocate, who treated the first patient with Ebola in Texas; and Kaci Hickox, nurse and health-care quality advocate, who treated patients with Ebola in Africa and was quarantined upon her return to the U.S, despite being asymptomatic and with no history of breaking any contact precaution protocols.

There will also be presentations by Dr. Joycelyn Elders, former U.S. surgeon general; Dr. Richard Wild, chief medical officer in the Atlanta Regional Office Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services; Rice Leach, health commissioner for Lexington and Fayette County; Dr. Stephen Tower; Dr. Daniel Saman; Patient Advocate David Antoon; Patient Advocate Kathy Day, RN; and Dr. Kraig Humbaugh, deputy commissioner of the Kentucky Department for Public Health.

The registration fee varies, with group discounts available. Attendance without CEUs is $48; attendance with CEUs is $96; and the full-time student rate is $35. Click here to register. For more information, contact Cathy Kavanagh at 606-426-7278 or send e-mail to info@healthconference.org.