Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia  and the American-Israel Chamber of Commerce are excited to invite you to the "US-Israel Telehealth Business Exchange" at Blue Cross Blue Shield's headquarters in Atlanta on February 24-25, 2009. This high energy fast-paced matchmaking and networking event is focused on technologies from companies you will want to meet. Speakers include Newt Gingrich, former Speaker of the US House of Representatives and founder of the Center for Health Transformation, alongside industry and academia experts

Why you should attend:

• Discover a wide range of cutting-edge technologies from Israel and Southeast US (meet the companies) in an exciting and time efficient forum.
  
• Meet with Israel and the Southeast's most innovative companies in pre-arranged one-on-one meetings to foster joint venture R&D, investment, marketing alliances, and other forms of cooperation.
  
• Network with technology, marketing, and investment leaders from the US and Israel.
  
• Learn from government and industry experts on the latest trends in Telehealth.

See you in Atlanta on February 24-25th!

Israel is one of the world’s most dynamic sources for high tech companies and with original and cutting edge technologies, particularly in the field of medical devices and information technology. The country has produced over 4,000 start-ups in the past few years, and has a robust venture capital industry to support entrepreneurs. 

Excluding the US and Canada, Israel has more companies publicly traded on the US exchanges than any other country.  Virtually every major US technology company has development operations in Israel or investments in Israeli companies including IBM, Motorola, Cisco, GE Medical, Siemens, Boston Scientific, Medtronic, Microsoft, HP, and more. 

BIRD, a US-Israel foundation, supports joint venture R&D projects between American and Israeli companies.

Why A Telehealth Event in Georgia?

The US has the world’s largest healthcare industry and is potentially the premier Telehealth market. The Georgia Partnership for Telehealth resulted from a spin off from the Blue Cross Blue Shield of Georgia Telemedicine Program that began in 2005 through a generous grant from WellPoint and through the leadership of Georgia's Insurance Commissioner John Oxendine. Its goal is to provide all rural Georgians with access to specialty care within 30 miles. The program has grown to include 45 rural presentation sites, 15 specialty sites and 17 Teleradiology sites. There are 45 specialties and 83 specialist represented in the program. Prior to the establishment of the Georgia Telemedicine Program, access to specialist in rural Georgia was extremely limited.

Atlanta is home to McKesson’s Information Technology business, one of the nation’s largest medical IT solution providers. The community has also spawned some of the major disease management and equipment and infrastructure vendors to the industry including Alere, WebVNC, Patient Care Technologies and more.  Through Georgia Tech, the industry has access to state support and academic research resources for major corporations and emerging companies