Announced by Senator Edward M. Kennedy in February, 1994, the CIIR is selected for an award of $3 million by the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs, providing a basis for rich collaboration with hospitals, HMOs, and medical software companies. The CIIR is playing a lead role in the development of full-text processing and information retrieval for health care. Use of the Center's advanced computing techniques for information retrieval have the potential to reduce costs nationwide and improve the quality of patient care by creating more efficient and cost-effective record-keeping. "With the UMass Center's innovative system, hospitals across the country will be able to reduce the spiraling health care costs generated by the paperwork and staff needed for record keeping," said Kennedy in his '94 press release.
Senator Kennedy (center) is shown during his visit to the UMass Amherst Department of Computer and Information Science (now CICS) Research Symposium in 1992.
