Previewing HIMSS 2010: Stimulus Efforts Will Be Front and Center in Atlanta

Mary C. Tierney, MS | February 01, 2010 | Informatics

Change is everywhere…Opportunity is here. The theme of this month’s HIMSS annual meeting has us shaking our heads and saying to ourselves ‘I sure hope so’—we hope opportunity is here, it’s time! For sure, opportunity awaits in the four days of preconference and educational sessions, specialty activities, networking events and career development opportunities that HIMSS has put together this year for the annual meeting in Atlanta and across the vast exhibit show floor. Educational sessions promise actionable information on achieving higher levels of cost efficiencies, EMR adoption, privacy and security, CPOE and quality and patient safety.

Targeted directly for CMIOs is the Physician IT Symposium on Sunday, February 28, co-sponsored by CMIO magazine. (See page 11 for details.) Plan to get up early to take in the full day (7:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) of educational sessions presented by national experts in clinical computing and healthcare IT. From the large organization to the small physician practice, this interactive forum examines planning, implementation, workflow, vendor guidance, and legal aspects of the EMR. Small interactive discussions tackle the newly announced meaningful use criteria. Related topics include patient privacy, clinical information exchange and public health organizations. Also on the agenda are questions to ask your EMR vendor, dealing with malpractice liability with EHRs, PHRs, HIEs, clinical decision support. Physicians can obtain up to a maximum of 6.0 AMA PRA Category 1 Credit(s). The cost is $275. To register, visit: www.himssconference.org.

Exchanging ideas on HIEs, PHRs, nursing informatics & IT

Also taking place on Sunday, February 28, are full and half-day pre-conference sessions targeted around HIEs and PHRs as well as for CIOs and nursing informatics professionals.

Health Information Exchange Symposium: Meaningful HIE (7:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.) will explore issues and challenges facing today’s HIEs, as well as success stories. The opening keynote address will explore the HIE national landscape, followed by an update from the Office of the National Coordinator on interoperability and the Healthcare Information Technology Regional Extension Center program. Attendees can interact with experts in the field and discuss HIE issues and challenges with colleagues and experts from operating HIOs. The cost is $275. To register, visit: www.himssconference.org.
Nursing Informatics Symposium: Realizing the Promise of Health IT for Nursing (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) brings together a dynamic platform of nurse leaders to address current informatics’ nursing issues. Be part of this exciting symposium where you can participate in general sessions, as well as educational tracks. Join in the conversation on how to position yourself for implementation success and demonstrating the value of health IT in the nursing world. The cost is $275. To register, visit: www.himssconference.org.
Personal Health Records Symposium: Are You Ready for Personal Health Records? (1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.)—new this year—takes a real world look at best practices and lessons learned from a wide-range of perspectives—from large practices to a payer organization. In addition, an in-depth focus will explore the impact of PHR standards, policy and meaningful use requirements for PHRs. The cost is $140. To register, visit: www.himssconference.org.
CIO Forum (9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.) As a new era in healthcare takes shape, CIOs will be called on to be more involved with moving IT forward. The forum will focus on optimizing leadership and governance effectiveness, confronting and embracing change and developing breakthroughs to lead your organization successfully into the new healthcare era. The cost is $275. You must be a CHIME member to register. To register, visit: www.himssconference.org.

Professional synergy

Several back-to-back Synergy Sessions on Monday, March 1, are targeted for each of the five communities of professions: physicians, senior executive IT, federal health, management engineering and process improvement, and nursing. Synergy Sessions provide niche audiences a forum for themed discussions.

Integration of Mobile Health Applications in Healthcare (Monday, March 1, 9:45 a.m. to 10:45 a.m.), William F. Bria, MD, CMIO, Shriners Hospitals for Children
Transactional Patient Portals: What, Why and How (Monday, March 1, 11:00 a.m. to noon), Eric M. Liederman, MD, MPH, Director of Medical Informatics, Kaiser Permanente N. California, and Jan Oldenburg, Senior Practice Leader, Internet Services Group, Kaiser Permanente
An Evidence-based Approach to Activating CPOE and Clinical Documentation (Monday, March 1, 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.), Chris Longhurst, MD, MS, Medical Director of Clinical Informatics; and Lisa Grisim, RN, MSN, IT Director of Operations, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
CIO/CMIO: Courtship, Marriage and after the Honeymoon (Monday, March 1, 12:15 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.), Timothy L. Thompson, CIO, The Methodist Hospital System; James B. Altomare, MD, CMIO, The Methodist Health System; Pamela Arora, CIO, Children’s Medical Center Dallas; Christopher Menzies, MD, CMIO, Children’s Medical Center Dallas; and Linda B. Hodges, Moderator, Vice President and IT Practice Leader, Witt/Kieffer

The quest for meaningful use

President Obama has charted a bold, new economic course with the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009, with billions of dollars dedicated to advance the meaningful use of EHRs. With this and the recent release of the Interim Final Rule establishing the Initial Set of Standards, Implementation Specifications and Certification Criteria for EHR Technology, HIMSS has added new education and exhibition features so attendees can take home tools for achieving meaningful use and meeting ARRA funding qualifications.

The already dynamic line-up includes new general education topic categories, such as Economic Stimulus, Globalization and Regulatory Compliance, and pre-conference education around various ARRA topics. From achieving meaningful use to usability to certification to HITECH, there are education sessions to answer senior IT executives, clinicians and health IT professionals’ pressing questions and challenges. For a full listing of sessions, visit HIMSS10 Education and search by keywords “meaningful” use or ARRA or economic stimulus.

Interoperability Showcase

Once you leave the classroom, make the Interoperability Showcase a destination (open Monday to Wednesday, March 1 through March 3, in Booth #233, Hall C, during exhibit hours). It includes state-of-the-art configurations of more than 70 clinical information systems in multiple demonstration HIEs. In these demos, patient health information will be exchanged across multiple healthcare enterprises including nationwide health information networks (NHIN), small ambulatory clinics, hospitals or
IDNs, or exchanging military health records worldwide.

Attendees also can see how a variety of stakeholders are collaborating to implement HIEs using Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) framework and Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel (HITSP) interoperability specifications, which use standards and IHE Profiles to build secure, electronic networks. The two large Interoperability Showcase theaters and other presentation areas will offer educational sessions on IHE and HIE activities, federal agency interoperability initiatives, and other global standards development initiatives. For the schedule, visit: http://www.himssconference.org/exhibition/interop.aspx.

On the exhibit floor

With acres of exhibit halls, a pavilion dedicated to the Interoperability Showcase and some 300 educational programs, there will be plenty to take in during the three days of exhibits. While booths may be a bit smaller than years past, you’ll be far from disappointed. Check out the products and services—and lots of new offerings—focused on EMRs, clinical IT, integration and interoperability, CDS, CPOE, health information exchange and much more! To map out your exhibit show schedule, visit http://www.himssconference.org/exhibition/floormap.aspx

Sessions with the CMIO in Mind

Here is a sampling of the sessions targeted for CMIOs at HIMSS. For more information, please visit himssconference.org.

Physician Synergy Session: Integration of Mobile Health Applications in Healthcare
Monday, March 1, 9:45 - 10:45 AM; Room B211
Along with the rapid growth of EHRs and Clinical Decision Support, there is another transformation of worldwide IT on the heels of wireless high-speed internet and the truly “smart” smart phones enabling high-definition data access. This discussion will review the “here and now” medical applications of new technologies and their impact on the growing field of telehealth
William Bria, MD, CMIO, Shriners Hospitals for Children
CIO/CMIO: Courtship, Marriage and after the Honeymoon
Monday, March 1, 12:15 - 1:15 PM; Room C303
A CIO and CMIO recruitment expert will moderate a discussion by CIO/CMIO partners on how they become a team and successes and lessons learned after their first year of partnership
Timothy Thompson, CIO, The Methodist Hospital System
James Altomare, MD, CMIO, The Methodist Health System
Pamela Arora, CIO, Children’s Medical Center Dallas
Christopher Menzies, MD, CMIO, Children’s Medical Center Dallas
Linda Hodges, Moderator, Vice President and IT Practice Leader, Witt/Kieffer
Developing Multidisciplinary Order Sets to Improve Inpatient Care Delivery
Monday, March 1, 9:45 - 10:45 AM; Room B308
In this presentation, learn how a 162-bed specialty hospital created multidisciplinary order sets for rehabilitation, nursing, prosthetics and orthotics to streamline prescriber communication and ensure critical information is shared with all caregivers specific to functional activities, mobility and splints and braces.
Mary Murray-Weir, PT, MBA, Director of Rehabilitation, Hospital for Special Surgery
Steven Magid, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Weill-Cornell Medical College, Associate Attending Physician, Hospital for Special Surgery
Transactional Patient Portals - What, Why and How
Monday, March 1, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM; Room B211
Kaiser Permanente patients bank, shop and network online and also email their doctors, book appointments, review results, refill prescriptions and more. Why and how did Kaiser Permanente do it, and what lessons can you learn from our experience?
Eric Liederman, MD, MPH, Director of Medical Informatics, Kaiser Permanente N. California
Jan Oldenburg, Sr. Practice Leader, Internet Services Group, Kaiser Permanente
Implications of ARRA for Clinical Decision Support
Monday, March 1, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM; Room B313b
Clinical decision support may be relevant to the demonstration of meaningful use for the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The presenters will discuss the potential implications of this relationship.
Loran Hauck, MD, Sr. Vice President, Office of Clinical Effectiveness & CMO, Adventist Health System
Scott Weingarten, MD, MPH, President and Chief Executive Officer, Zynx Health
Implementing Physician Scorecards: Driving Clinical Practice Change with Data
Monday, March 1, 11:00 AM - 12:00 PM; Room B208
Physician scorecards are powerful tools to drive practice change. Learn how M.D. Anderson Cancer Center developed and used scorecards to transform their perioperative care.
John Frenzel, MD, MS, Director, Perioperative and Critical Care Informatics, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Craig Owen, Manager, Perioperative & Critical Care Informatics, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center
Bringing the Hospital and Physician Clinical IT Together
Monday, March 1, 12:15 - 1:15 PM; Room B211
This presentation describes the enterprise clinical environment at the Medical University of South Carolina, where clinical data across all care settings are aggregated into a clinical data repository, thus allowing caregivers easy access to data regardless of where they were captured.
Frank Clark, PhD, CIO & Vice President, Medical University of SC
An Evidence-Based Approach to Activating CPOE and Clinical Documentation
Monday, March 1, 12:15 - 1:15 PM; Room B211
This presentation will review key considerations for computerized practitioner order entry and clinical documentation activation strategies, and share the results of a survey of 20 hospitals representing four major vendors.
Chris Longhurst, MD, MS, Medical Director of Clinical Informatics, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Lisa Grisim, RN, MSN, IT Director of Operations, Lucile Packard Children’s Hospital
Engaging 225 Privately Held Physician Offices in Establishing a RHIO
Monday, March 1, 12:15 - 1:15 PM; Room B406b
Review how the Monroe County HIT Service Bureau engaged over 225 physicians, all from privately held offices, in transitioning to an electronic health record system and connecting to the Rochester regional health information organization using multiple vendors.
Alice Loveys, MD, FAAP, CMIO, Monroe County Medical Society
ARRA and EMR Usability: What Providers Need to Know
Monday, March 1, 12:15 - 1:15 PM; Room C308
What if U.S. healthcare providers dramatically adopted EMRs in increasing numbers, worked hard to achieve meaningful use, but never benefited financially or in efficiency or quality? Meaningful use will be dependent on adequate EMR usability. Discover how usability relates to a number of meaningful use criteria. We offer a usability checklist to assist providers in shopping for a new EMR, or to use during implementation of an existing EMR, in order to achieve efficiency, effectiveness, and usefulness.
Jeffery Belden, MD, Associate Professor of Clinical Family and Community Medicine, University of Missouri School of Medicine
Janey Barnes, PhD, Human Factors Specialist, User-View, Inc.
Reducing Adverse Events and Improving Pain Management in Children
Tuesday, March 2, 8:30 - 9:30 AM; Room C211
As organizations succeed in electronic medical record adoption, deriving value becomes a major theme. This session will describe how EMRs can be used to improve pain management and reduce adverse events.
Brian Jacobs, MD, CMIO, Children’s National Medical Center
Amrita Naipaul, RN, Manager Pediatric Pain Program, Children’s National Medical Center
Connecting with Community Practices: Benefiting from the Best of Both Worlds
Tuesday, March 2, 9:45 - 10:45 AM; Georgia Ballroom I
This presentation details the objectives and goals of Intermountain Healthcare’s initiative to implement a scalable system that allows interfacing of results and text reports directly into community practices’ electronic medical record systems. This discussion will focus on the vendor solutions utilized, internal IT resource requirements, implementation lessons, volume and revenue metrics, physician feedback and a technological overview of the solution.
Ryan Smith, Assistant Vice President, E-Business Services, Intermountain Healthcare
Efficiency Gains through Dynamic Desktop Architecture: An Emergency Department Case Study
Tuesday, March 2, 1:00 - 2:00 PM; Room B302
Discover how Alegent Health designed a virtual desktop solution that provides context-sensitive, near-instant access to a caregiver’s desktop and applications, from anywhere at any time, improving productivity and driving down costs.
Troy Hottovy, Certified Information Systems Auditor (CISA), Operations Leader-Tech Management, Alegent Health
Michael Westcott, MD, CMIO, Alegent Health
CPOE and Physicians: Giving Them Cause to Care about IT
Tuesday, March 2, 1:00 - 2:00 PM; Room B308
This presentation illustrates how a unique computerized practitioner order entry utilization turned physician ambivalence into enthusiasm, while improving care and reducing costs in unanticipated ways.
Michael Zia, MD, Vice President, Medical Affairs and Quality, Decatur Memorial Hospital
What Does the Future of the Ambulatory Practice Look Like in a Post-ARRA Era?
Tuesday, March 2, 1:00 - 2:00 PM; Room B406
The government has taken unprecedented steps to support the adoption of EHRs for physician practices through the passage of the American Reinvestment and Recovery Act. This session will look into the future and envision what a practice would look like if it took advantage of an EHR implementation after 2015.
A. John Blair, III, MD, President, Taconic IPA, Inc.
Karen Bell, MD, MMS, Vice President of Health Information Technology Services, Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services
The Legal EHR—Touch Points with ARRA
Tuesday, March 2, 2:15 - 3:15 PM; Room B313b
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act adds new wrinkles and dimensions to the already complex concept of the legal electronic health record. This session explores the latest issues relating to meaningful use, privacy and security and more.
Michelle Dougherty, MA, RHIA, CHP, Director, Practice Leadership, AHIMA
$1 Million ROI: ED Physician Documentation, CPOE and EHR
Tuesday, March 2, 2:15 - 3:15 PM; Georgia Ballroom I
This session discusses lessons learned while implementing computerized practitioner order entry, electronic health record, and physician documentation in the emergency department, and the resulting revenue increase of millions of dollars in a community teaching hospital.
Sanjay Shah, MBA, CMPE, FHIMSS, President, HCIT+ Healthcare Information Technology Plus
Michelle Massie, RN, Clinical Analyst and ED Implementation Specialist, Cabell Huntington Hospital
Physician and Patient Views on Using PHRs: National Survey Results
Wednesday, March 3, 9:45 - 10:45 AM; Room B308
This session will explore the experiences and views of patients and physicians who use personal health records, focusing on the concerns and desires that will shape the development of PHRs and the policy environment.
Matthew Wynia, MD, MPH, Director, The Institute for Ethics, American Medical Association
Josh Lemieux, Director, Personal Health Technology, The Markle Foundation
Navigating HITECH: Challenges and Opportunities for the Physician Practice
Wednesday, March 3, 9:45 - 10:45 AM; Room B313b
This session will explore the challenges, benefits and ramifications of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act’s incentives for electronic health record adoption by private practices and how starting early leads to financial gain.
Stanley Wisniewski, MD, Principal, Cal Arundel Family Medicine
Getting Technology Adopted: Views From the Bruised
Wednesday, March 3, 9:45-10:45 AM; Room C208
A panel of three highly acclaimed clinician/IT professionals, all Stage 6, Stage 7, or HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence award winners, will discuss what worked and what didn’t in getting technology adoption in their organizations.
Dave Garets, President and CEO, HIMSS Analytics, Executive VP, HIMSS
Daniel Nigrin, MD, MS, Sr. Vice President, Information Services & CIO, Children’s Hospital Boston
John Mattison, MD, Assistant Medical Director, CMIO, Southern California Kaiser Permanente Medical Group
Florence Chang, Sr. Vice President and Chief Information Officer, MultiCare Health System
CMS PHR Pilot Study: Report on Beneficiaries’ Experiences with PHRs
Wednesday, March 3, 9:45 - 10:45 AM; Room C306
This presentation will demonstrate the use and perceived value of personal health records for Medicare beneficiaries based on evaluations of beneficiary PHR user experiences as part of two projects funded by Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.
Prashila Dullabh, MD, Health IT Program Manager, Health IT Program Manager, National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago
Adil Moiduddin, MPP, Associate Director, Healthcare, National Opinion Research Center at the University of Chicago
Elizabeth Holland, HITECH Team Lead, Office of E-Health Standards and Services, Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services
Through the Looking Glass: The Glass Ceiling in HIT
Wednesday, March 3, 9:45 - 10:45 AM; Room C211
Although the percentage of female healthcare CIOs increased from 9 percent in 1987 to 30 percent in 2008, IT is still viewed as a man’s world. This session will share tips and techniques of women CIOs for women in IT.
Judith Kirby, President, Kirby Partners
The Doctor Is Always in: Vitals on Remote Monitoring
Wednesday, March 3, 1:00 - 2:00 PM; Room B308
The Cleveland Clinic set out to develop disease management programs that integrate the use of remote monitoring tools with everyday clinical workflows. This presentation will explore the use of these programs as an effective mechanism to monitor patients post discharge from the hospital and within an ambulatory care setting.
Gisela Nehring, RRT, MBA, Manager, Information Technology, Cleveland Clinic
Robert Turk, Jr., CPHIMS, Director, Information Technology, Cleveland Clinic
Initial Experience with E-Prescribing of Controlled Substances: How It’s Done
Wednesday, March 3, 1:00 - 2:00 PM; Room C102
Attendees will hear our first-in-the-nation experience with outpatient e-prescribing of controlled substances. Topics include the project’s origins, overcoming barriers, clinician workflow, and security concerns and solutions.
Michael Blackman, MD, MBA, CMIO, Berkshire Health Systems, Inc.
Peter Kaufman, MD, CMO, DrFirst, Inc.
EHR/CPOE Implementation: Failing to Plan is Planning to Fail
Wednesday, March 3, 1:00 - 2:00 PM; Georgia Ballroom I
The planning process is a key element in the success of any implementation. Ensuring success, building a strong team, preparing for launch, designing deployment strategies and other important considerations will be addressed.
Daniela Mahoney, RN, BSN, President & CEO, Healthcare Innovative Solutions
Improving Chronic Disease Care with Automated Real-Time Performance Reports
Wednesday, March 3, 2:15 - 3:15 PM; Room B312
The University of Missouri created an award-winning partnership with their EMR vendor to facilitate care and enable providers to assess their clinical performance in caring for chronic conditions.
Karl Kochendorfer, MD, Director of Clinical Informatics, University of Missouri
Integrating Quality Measures into EHRs: Available Tools and Lessons Learned
Wednesday, March 3, 2:15 - 3:15 PM; Room C102
This session describes how the American Medical Association’s Physician Consortium for Performance Improvement has developed standardized methods for integrating quality measures into electronic health records and best practices for implementation of quality measures.
Karen Kmetik, PhD, Director, Clinical Performance Evaluation, American Medical Association
Kendra Hanley, MS, Senior Policy Analyst II, American Medical Association
Utilizing an EHR to Optimize Pay-for-Performance Participation: A Primary Care Medical Group’s Experience
Wednesday, March 3, 2:15 - 3:15 PM; Room C202
Graybill Medical Group configured its electronic health record to improve quality and therefore support successful participation in P4P initiatives. In the first two years of reporting, Graybill earned nearly $463,000 in bonus reimbursements.
Leslie Chapman, MBA, Director of Finance, Graybill Medical Group
Physician Practice EHR/PM System Leads to NCQA Medical Home Recognition
Thursday, March 4, 10:00 - 11:00 AM; Room C202
By mobilizing its electronic health record/practice management system, Potomac Physicians fulfilled its vision of creating an evidenced-based practice—yielding improved disease management, National Committee for Quality Assurance medical home recognition and a demonstration project.
Carol Reynolds-Freeman, MD, Medical Director, Potomac Physicians P.A.
Social Networking: Are You Listening?
Thursday, March 4, 10:00 - 11:00 AM; Room C211
This educational session will highlight the successes, failures, lessons learned, future opportunities and required strategies in the adoption of social networking and other “Health 2.0” tools in healthcare organizations.
John Sharp, MSSA, PMP, Manager, Research Informatics, Cleveland Clinic
Deborah Kohn, MPH, RHIA, FACHE, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, Principal, Dak Systems Consulting
Personal Health Information Management: Designing for Consumer HIT
Thursday, March 4, 11:15 AM - 12:15 PM; Room B308
This session will present findings from a research study conducted on the nature of personal health information management and consumer HIT, including design considerations and principles for the development of personal health information management tools.
Ritu Agarwal, PhD, Professor of Information Systems & Director, Center for Health Information and Decision Systems, University of Maryland

Mary C. Tierney, MS, Vice President & Chief Content Officer, TriMed Media Group

Mary joined TriMed Media in 2003. She was the founding editor and editorial director of Health Imaging, Cardiovascular Business, Molecular Imaging Insight and CMIO, now known as Clinical Innovation + Technology. Prior to TriMed, Mary was the editorial director of HealthTech Publishing Company, where she had worked since 1991. While there, she oversaw four magazines and related online media, and piloted the launch of two magazines and websites. Mary holds a master’s in journalism from Syracuse University. She lives in East Greenwich, R.I., and when not working, she is usually running around after her family, taking photos or cooking.

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