The annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition has always aimed to address the latest concerns and challenges facing health IT and this year is no different, featuring presentations and keynotes from some of the major players in healthcare (and a guest appearance by one of the most famous players in the NFL).

The Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC) introduced the ONC Tech Lab which “represents the way in which we will organize and approach the type of work we do,” according to a blog post written by Steven Posnack, MS, MHS, director of ONC’s Office of Standards and Technology.

MINNEAPOLIS--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The Health division of Wolters Kluwer, a leading global provider of information and point of care solutions for the healthcare industry, announced today that Rabin Pant, director of clinical informatics with Methodist Health System, will present a session at HIMSS16 highlighting the critical role of effective point of care clinical content management during a public health crisis. The session titled “The Value of Standardized Care in a Public Health Crisis” will demonstrate how ProVation® Order Sets, powered by UpToDate® Decision Support enabled the organization to lay a foundation of highly-reliable, evidence-based clinical care during the health system’s response to the 2014 Ebola outbreak in Dallas.

A review of more than 1,000 healthcare related-apps found that less than half appeared to be useful for their potential for patient engagement while also offering high quality and safety, according to an issue brief published by New York City-based The Commonwealth Fund.

Partnership Enables the CRISP HIE Community Access to Medical Images.

After more than seven years of planning, the Parkland Health and Hospital system in Dallas moved into a new campus in August. For vice president of IT Joseph Longo, the long wait presented a few major challenges, most notably that the technology lifecycle changed dramatically during that time period.

The realities of 21st century healthcare economics are hacking away at the 20th century ideal of the intensive care unit as a single space housing the hospital’s sickest patients and marshaling, by cookie-cutter departmental structuring, the skills of intensivist physicians, specialized nurses and ICU-dedicated ancillary staffers.

Thanks to their low-cost, consumer-friendly character, urgent care centers are big and getting bigger. How much bigger?