Conference Venue
Venue: Bay Gardens Hotel
Room: Bougainvillea Conference Room
Address: Rodney Bay Village, Castries, St. Lucia
Overview of Caribbean Health Financing Conferences
Theme: Information Systems, Artificial Intelligence and Data Analytics in Health: Managing Costs, Optimizing Benefits for the Caribbean
In response to requests from Caribbean governments to ‘do more’ in health, Heads of Caribbean Social Security Organizations at their 17th General Meeting (Belize City, June 2006) agreed to establish a Caribbean forum for discussing relevant approaches, challenges and lessons learnt in design and implementation of health financing programs.
As such, these Health Financing Conferences are organized to share knowledge, test ideas and build capacity as we learn from policymakers, researchers and managers who have direct and indirect responsibility for planning, decision-making and administering health financing initiatives.
Recognizing the multiple sources of knowledge in health and related health financing matters, the Conferences have actively expanded participation to involve experts and officials with first-hand experiences from Ministries of Health, Social Security Organizations’, national health financing agencies, international organizations, health insurers, third party administrators, as well as health services networks, research agencies, IT companies, actuarial firms and academic institutions.
Hear from the organizers
Click the organizer's name to read the welcome messages.
Dr. Stanley Lalta & Ms. Charmaine Metivier
Conference Coordinator, HEU, Centre for Health Economics, The University of the West Indies
Dr. Stanley Lalta & Ms. Charmaine Metivier
Conference Coordinator, HEU, Centre for Health Economics, The University of the West Indies
We are absolutely delighted to be in St Lucia joining hands and minds with the wonderful team at the Millennium Heights Medical Complex (MHMC) in welcoming you to the 16th Caribbean Conference on National Health Financing Initiatives.
Incorporating ideas and suggestions from previous Conferences and always seeking new ways to future-proof our health and health financing systems, we have crafted an engaging and provocative Program around the theme ‘Information Systems, AI and Data Analytics in Health: Managing Costs, Optimizing Benefits for the Caribbean’.
We have a mix of international, regional and institutional presentations sharing informed insights and bold thinking from ‘end users’ and ‘providers’ of IS/IT applications as we seek to distil lessons of experience of what works, what does not work, as well as the nominal and ‘opportunity costs’ of these choices.
In addition, we have inserted a special Panel on Day 3, which examines the challenges of ‘public participation and patient compliance in health’ in terms of the benefits of getting these right versus the costs of getting these wrong.
Of course, we have a packed schedule of events outside of the Conference Room to immerse ourselves in the unique delights of shopping, touring and partying in St Lucia.
So, open your calendar, save the dates and join us at the 16th Conference in St Lucia as, individually and collectively, we keep striving to enhance capacities to ‘do more and do better’ in health financing matters.
Dr Althea La Foucade
The University of the West Indies, HEU, Centre for Health Economics Director
Dr Althea La Foucade
The University of the West Indies, HEU, Centre for Health Economics Director
These Conferences—which started in 2006—are unique in the Caribbean given their specific focus on health financing matters. They also represent another crucial platform and manifestation of The University’s outreach to enhance knowledge, skills and institutional capacities to implement programs for advancing Caribbean development (in line with the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, 2015-2030).
We have deliberately chosen the theme for this year’s Conference, Information Systems, AI and Data Analytics in Health: Managing Costs, Optimizing Benefits for the Caribbean, given the several pathways that Information Systems (IS) applications are transforming health and health financing systems globally and nationally.
We are also aware of the cost implications (including opportunity cost) of getting choices of IS applications right (or wrong), so sharing knowledge on what are appropriate, cost-effective and best practices will be paramount.
Judging from the Program’s content, we seem to have the right mix of sessions filled with intense technical discussions and sessions with enjoyable social events. On behalf of The UWI-HEU, let me join our co-host and partner, the MHMC, in warmly welcoming you to four productive days at the 16th Caribbean Conference on National Health Financing Initiatives in St Lucia.