| This year, the
Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) conference drew nearly 35,000 people into New Orleans in the early March where clinicians, IT executives, and business leaders gathered to discuss strategies for improving care through the use of health information technology. According to a recent survey from the Bipartisan Policy Center, 80% said that the electronic exchange of health information would improve care quality and coordination and 69% said that health information exchange would increase practice efficiency. This year, the HIMSS community was actively involved in discussing innovative and collaborative ways to overcome these challenges. |
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| Interoperability of Health IT |
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| Interoperability has always been a major buzzword at HIMSS. This year, a major announcement was the launch of the
CommonWell Health Alliance, a collaborative effort pioneered by several electronic health record (EHR) companies including: Cerner, McKesson, RelayHealth, athenahealth, Allscripts and Greenway. The CommonWell Health Alliance is a not-for-profit organization that will support universal access to health data through seamless interoperability. They will promote and certify a national infrastructure with common standards and policies. Over the next several months, we may see other EHR companies joining the Alliance, so stay tuned for those updates. HP was showcasing their collaboration with Greenway and Intel by providing access of EHR data with HP mobile devices running Windows 8. |
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| Windows 8 and Mobility |
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| HP, Intel, and Microsoft were showcasing Windows 8 tablets that will solve a number of pressing challenges faced by hospital IT executives. Windows 8 provides a comprehensive approach to meeting mobility, productivity and collaboration goals within hospital and practice settings. Physicians and other clinicians want to use mobile devices at the point of care, but traditional mobile devices have been difficult to use effectively. Many have been heavy, or they lacked the capability to run enterprise level applications. Now with Windows 8 and lightweight tablets like the
HP ElitePad 900, physicians and nurses can effectively run enterprise level EHRs and CPOE systems without being hindered by heavy bulky devices. Mobile devices like the
HP ElitePad 900 also offer long battery life along with a variety of expansion options such as the
HP ElitePad Expansion Jacket with battery. HP Client Virtualization also provides a secure solution for BYOD with industry leading performance, availability, and security. |
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| Meaningful Use Stage 2 |
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| This year at HIMSS, everyone was talking about Stage 2 of Meaningful Use (MU). One of the major components of Stage 2 is the collection of data on clinical quality measures (CQMs). Physicians and hospitals are identifying ways to use health IT to improve patient safety, reduce medical errors, improve care coordination, and engage the patient in their own health care. HP was showcasing Autonomy’s IDOL, a meaning based data analytics solution designed to mine unstructured data to reveal patterns and relationships in clinical data. Stage 2 MU also outlines the goals around the use of health information exchanges (HIEs). While there are several states that have successfully launched and sustained HIEs, others are struggling to identify a business model that will allow an HIE to be sustainable. |
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| Effective Population Health Management |
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| On Wednesday, March 6, President Clinton spoke about the need to use health IT effectively to improve population health management. More aging patients are entering the health system every day and physicians and hospitals need to expand their capacity to manage all these patients who often have multiple chronic conditions. We know that clinical decision support (CDS) and the use of collaborative workflows can help members of the care team manage their patients more effectively. This year at HIMSS, we heard how some hospitals and health systems are integrating some of these health IT resources to improve patient outcomes. HP was showcasing the HP Exstream/Hyland Patient-friendly Bill that is designed to improve patient satisfaction and drive behavior for improved wellness outcomes. The
HP Digital Hospital also provides a responsive, patient-centric experience and integrates digital technology across the entire healthcare system. |
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| Information Security |
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Protecting patient health data is becoming more crucial as hospitals and health systems rely on IT resources to manage patient records. Information security continues to remain a high priority among the HIMSS community. HP was showcasing several security solutions including HP secure printing, mobile computing based on Intel architecture, and HP Virtualization partnering for Single Sign On and Tap & Go to improve clinical workflow efficiency while helping to maintain secure access to patient information.
HP StoreAll Storage also provides an efficient storage solution to manage the rapidly growing database of structured and unstructured health data.
HP StoreOnce Backup with StoreOnce Catalyst also offers a fast solution for EHR and PACS data protection. Microsoft Office 365 is a major cloud business productivity solution that addresses the rigorous HIPAA regulations and offers a HIPAA Business Associate Agreement (BAA) to customers, allowing healthcare organizations to reap the benefits of the cloud without the security risk.
HIMSS is an annual must-attend event that offers a collaborative environment for education, networking, and idea-sharing. Make sure to mark your calendars for HIMSS 2014 which is scheduled to be held February 23-27 in Orlando, Florida. |
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