Last week, more than 1,000 ONC grantees and stakeholders gathered in Washington, D.C. for ONC’s Annual Meeting. It was largely my first opportunity to meet the many ONC partners committed to advancing the promise of health information technology to improve the value of care and improve health.

There is inspiring work happening across the country that is improving the effectiveness, efficiency and experience of care and our grantees and partners have much to be proud of in their rapid advancement.  We still have work to do to achieve the seamless, accessible, paperless, and learning system we desire, but I am encouraged at the progress in just a few short years.

During perhaps the most exciting part of the conference, Secretary Sebelius and United Kingdom Secretary of State for Health Jeremy Hunt signed a bi-lateral agreement to strengthen efforts to cultivate and increase the use of health IT designed to help improve the quality and efficiency of health care in both countries. This marks an important commitment between the United States and United Kingdom to advance innovations in health IT that will enable not only better care, but better opportunities for supporting and protecting health globally. Developing and agreeing upon shared approaches and standards for data capture, use and interoperability will be crucial.

I am so excited to be joining colleagues to do a deep dive on interoperability at next week’s HCI-DC: Igniting an Interoperable Health Care System convening on February 6 here in Washington, D.C., which ONC is co-hosting with the Gary and Mary West Health Institute .  The public and private sector will convene at the HCI-DC conference  to discuss how health information technology and meaningful interoperability will allow innovative solutions to improve our nation’s health care delivery system for everyone.

Throughout the day, we will tackle interoperability from a variety of perspectives—including the point of care, the market need, the vendor, and the health system—and we’ll learn from other industries about their approach to interoperability. We will bring government leaders (including some of my ONC colleagues), policy makers, health care advocates, business leaders, business development executives, academics, and product and technology specialists together to drive the conversation on interoperability.

We will also hear about ONC’s work towards the shared goal.  For example, during a morning “fireside chat,” ONC’s Doug Fridsma will be joined by FDA Center for Devices and Radiological Health Director Jeffrey Shuren for a discussion on our agencies’ shared efforts towards interoperability.  And finally, we will hear keynote remarks from best-selling author Malcolm Gladwell.

Additionally, you won’t want to miss this exciting lineup of speakers:

• Johann Becker, RN, BSN, MAM, Director of Clinical Operations, Wellspan VNA Home Care
• Dave Cassel, Senior Interoperability Engineer, Epic Systems
• Jodi Daniel, JD, MPH, Director, Office of Policy and Planning, ONC
• Alistair Erskine, MD, Chief Clinical Informatics Officer, Geisinger Health System
• Doug Fridsma, MD, PhD, Chief Science Officer & Director, Office of Science & Technology, ONC
• Sid Fuchs, President & Chief Executive Officer, MacAulay-Brown, Inc.
• Joe Gray, PhD, Associate Director for Translational Research, OHSU Knight Cancer Institute
• Dick Green, Former Chief Executive Officer, CableLabs
• Harry Greenspun, MD, Senior Advisor for Health Care Transformation & Technology, Deloitte Center for Health Solutions
• John Halamka, MD, MS, Chief Information Officer of Harvard Medical School, Chief Information Officer, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center
• Michael Johns, MD, Chairman, Center for Medical Interoperability
• Stephen Jones, FACHE, Chief Executive Officer, Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
• Anna McCollister-Slipp, Co-Founder, Galileo Analytics
• Gregory Moore, MD, PhD, Chief Emerging Technology and Informatics Officer and Director of the Institute for Advanced Application, Geisinger Health System
• Jacob Reider, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology
• Michael Schatzlein, MD, Tennessee/Indiana Ministry Market Leader, Ascension Health,Chief Executive Officer, Saint Thomas Health
• Jeffrey Shuren, MD, JD, Director, Center for Devices and Radiological Health, Food and Drug Administration
• Joseph Smith, MD, PhD, FACC, Chief Medical and Science Officer, West Health Institute
• Glenn Tobin, PhD, Chief Executive Officer, Crimson, The Advisory Board Company
• Nick Valeriani, Chief Executive, West Health

I look forward to seeing you on February 6 to drive forward a conversation on interoperability, an important issue that will prove central to this new partnership between the United States and United Kingdom, and an integral part to driving the use of health IT in the future as a means of achieving our goals of better care, at a lower cost and ultimately, better health for all.

The event is free to attend, but capacity will be limited, so please don’t forget to register .