HIMSS opens Innovation Center

The Health Information & Management Systems Society (HIMSS) officially opened its 30,000 sq.-ft. Innovation Center, which is now part of the Global Center for Health Innovation in downtown Cleveland. The center features two elements: a Health IT Simulation Center for testing interoperability and a year-round Healthcare Technology Showcase with rolling exhibitions on information exchange, patient engagement, mobile health and other topics.

HIMSS has been working on the concept for several years. The association opted to open the center in Cleveland after exploring several locations. “This is the right spot to be a worldwide hub because of the amount of industry in the area. There are a lot of EHR companies and a lot of healthcare providers available to offer feedback on and validate what we are doing,” said Sandra Vance, senior director of HIMSS' interoperability initiatives, who spoke with Clinical Innovation + Technology.

To date, Vance said 12 collaborators are on board, including the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT, which she said is committed to bringing systems in play from other agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs, the Department of Defense and the Social Security Administration. Other collaborators include Alego Health, Fujitsu, IHE USA, ICSA Labs, Total Voice Technologies, Cardinal Health, Juniper Networks and Concur.

What ultimately distinguishes the innovation center is that it's not just associated with one vendor or one provider, but a place where many companies can test the interoperability of their platforms.

To that end, the simulation center, which also can be accessed virtually, allows those in the healthcare space to access a multi-care environment populated with simulated patient demographic, clinical and financial data. Through it, they can test and demonstrate scenarios in real-time that elicit a specific product’s interoperability and other capabilities. The goal is to improve quality and patient outcomes, cost-effective care coordination through secure data exchange, leading to better business performance. 

“We are that neutral ground for companies to come to collaborate, not compete but to do better,” said Vance. “It’s really important to harmonize systems and use standards appropriately so they can talk to each other. This center is the venue to perpetuate that collaboration.”

The ability to demonstrate how a system interacts with other clinical information systems is crucial to industry leaders, she said. “A CEO doesn’t want to see an independent dog and pony show, but how it will work with the systems already in use.”

The center also supports federal initiatives such as Meaningful Use.

“Stage 3 Meaningful Use is interoperability. It’s a critical time for vendors to produce systems that will easily link to regional and national health information exchanges,” she said. “That’s the crux of this. With providers required to send and receive data, they need the technology to do so and they need to work with other vendors to figure it out.”

The center is the place for that type of collaboration to happen, she said. “You can’t test interoperability on your own.”