Healthcare It News - February 2008 - (Page 46)

46 Healthcare IT News s February 2008 www.HealthcareITNews.com Once again, we are on the road to the work of interoperable electronic health Annual HIMSS Conference and Exhibition, records. Major HIT vendors also reported a this year taking place in Orlando. Most of us record year in 2007. While not precise and conwelcome this winter break–the opportunity to founded by mergers and acquisitions of comnetwork with peers, participate in panies large and small, healthcare education sessions and, of revenues up STANDARDS IT industry10 percent were for course, visit the exhibit floor to more than and, see all that is new and shiny. key leaders, up more than 20 perSome of you may recall cent for the first three quarters. HIMSS07 left me, a longtime So, why anxiety? HIMSS attendee, perplexed at Anxiety lives somewhere by Ed Larsen the visible complexity and in between anticipation and dread. need of a mental model. I suggested a simple So, why would I expect anxiety–is it because model that follows healthcare money, which things have been too good to last? 2007 was a will increasingly shift to the consumer, employ- great if not record year, but many in the ee and taxpayer. So this year, I am off to industry fear 2008 may be as good as it gets at HIMSS08, confident in my mental model and least for a while. Certainly 2009 will bring a year of trying to fit stubborn facts into it. change. By HIMSS09, there will be a new What might we expect to find at HIMSS08? administration with its own health policies, Certainly, the complexity will remain; interop- priorities and personalities. As we have erability can link strange bedfellows. Time will become more reliant on Washington policy, be spent trying to figure out what all the new this impending change is a source of growing vendors have learned about healthcare that concern. In the sequence of things, healthcare has escaped us veterans for all these years. But IT policy and legislative action will not be a I believe the overriding theme this year will be 2009 priority. Establishing overall healthcare anxiety. policy direction and budget plans will come Our provider customers, particularly hospi- first. As we listen to this year's keynote sestals, have had a record year and many HIT ven- sions in Orlando, some part of us will be anxdors have followed suit. Overall margins rose iously anticipating the first pronouncements to 6 percent, the highest since the pre-Balanced of the new administration at HIMSS09. Budget Amendment era. Washington policy Despite record investment in EHR systems continues to favor HIT investment, and there by larger providers, most physician practices is visible progress toward a nationwide net- and the vast majority of consumers are well Anxious Times INSIGHT removed from interoperable EHRs. There will be no new incentives for this to change in 2008. E-prescribing is expected to be a key focal point of healthcare IT interests in Washington this year. But there will be more pressing Medicare Part D issues than e-prescribing mandates. The growth of personal health records generated by health plans and payors or funded by “advertising” is on a collision course with consumer concerns over privacy. 2008 will not see a PHR mandate, new privacy rules or a funding model. Similarly, home monitoring, a new hot area, and long-term care issues will not move forward this year. And so, as we wander the exhibit hall, we should force our analytic side to examine how the many and diverse vendors and systems will do within a no-mandate, no-financial incentive world where our primary clients are seeing shrinking margins or increasing out-ofpocket expenses. Are the application and system you are looking for going to sell itself to providers and consumers because they improve care, control costs or visibly enhance valued quality and convenience? Not a bad model for anxious times. s Ed Larsen is an independent strategy consultant who tracks interoperability standards for HIMSS. For the full article, go to Standards Insight on the HIMSS Member start page. Comments or questions can be sent to erlarsen@erlinc.com. PUBLICATIONS STAFF VICE PRESIDENT, COMMUNICATIONS Fran Perveiler MANAGER, PUBLICATIONS Nancy Vitucci SENIOR MANAGER CORPORATE COMMUNICATIONS Joyce Lofstrom SENIOR MANAGER PUBLIC POLICY COMMUNICATIONS Sharolyn Rosier Hyson SENIOR EDITOR Matt Schlossberg COORDINATOR, COMMUNICATIONS Cari McLean BOARD OF DIRECTORS CHAIR John Wade, FCHIME, FHIMSS Vice President/Chief Information Officer Saint Luke’s Health System VICE CHAIR Victoria Bradley, DNP, RN, FHIMSS Director of Patient Information University of Kentucky HealthCare CHAIR ELECT Charles E. Christian, FCHIME, FHIMSS Director, Information Systems/Chief Information Officer Good Samaritan Hospital VICE CHAIR ELECT State government membership now offered for state officials and staff Unveiling big changes when Next year, the Annual HIMSS Conference & Exhibition will once again be the place to see the hottest trends and innovative solutions for healthcare information technology and management systems. But, HIMSS09 will also boast some big changes. The conference will be held April 4-8, 2009, later than the traditional February time slot. Additionally, in 2009, the start of the conference moves up one day. Education sessions and the exhibition open up on Sunday, rather than the traditional Monday start; HIMSS09 will run through Wednesday, instead of ending on Thursday. Chicago's central location and world-class cuisine, magnificent architecture, renowned theatres and museums, diverse neighborhoods and electric nightlife make it a “can't miss” destination. Watch for additional details in the HIMSS Insider and online at www.himss.org. s HIMSS09 heads to the Windy City Liz Johnson, FHIMSS Vice President, Applied Clinical Informatics Tenet Healthcare Corp. Margret Amatayakul, RHIA, CHPS, FHIMSS President Margaret A. Consulting, LLC Barry P. Chaiken, MD, MPH, FHIMSS Chief Medical Officer DocsNetwork, Ltd. Maj. John H. Daniels, FACHE, CPHIMS, CHPS, FHIMSS Chief Information Officer U.S. Air Force Academy Hospital John Hansmann, FHIMSS Regional Manager, Management Engineering Intermountain Health Care C. Martin Harris, MD, MBA, FHIMSS Chief Information Officer and Chairman Information Technology Division Executive Director, eCleveland Clinic The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Joy G. Keeler, MBA Principal Health Information Technology The MITRE Corp. Jay Srini, FHIMSS Vice President, Emerging Technologies University of Pittsburgh Medical Center Jonathan M. Teich, MD, PhD, FHIMSS Chief Medical Informatics Officer Elsevier Health Sciences PRESIDENT AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER H. Stephen Lieber, CAE HIMSS ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS H IMSS State Government Relations, in collaboration with HIMSS Member Services, recently unveiled the HIMSS State Government Membership, a new membership category exclusively for state officials and their designated staff. This new membership category provides state government executives and their staff with a complementary HIMSS membership to increase their knowledge and awareness of healthcare information technology and management systems' issues, as well as their involvement with HIMSS. To date, more than 12 state officials, including state chief information officers, legislators, public health officials and Medicaid directors have taken advantage of this new opportunity. State government members benefit from HIMSS' catalog of periodicals and member resources, including access to the HIMSS Weekly Insider, HIMSS Monthly Insider, Pulse on Public Policy and Top Line Reports. As members of their local HIMSS Chapter, state government members have access to local healthcare IT and management systems experts. State government membership not only benefits state officials and their designated staff when developing and executing policy, but also benefits other HIMSS members through networking and collaboration. For more information on the HIMSS State Government Membership, contact K. Meredith Taylor, manager, state government relations, HIMSS, at 703-562-8847 or mtaylor@himss.org. s A. John Blair III, MD President and CEO Taconic IPA Steve Fox Partner Pepper Hamilton LLP Miriam Paramore Vice President, Sales, Marketing and Business Development Integra Professional Services Sunny Sanyal Chief Operating Officer McKesson Provider Technologies T HITSP approves next set of interoperability specifications he Healthcare Information Technology Standards Panel recently approved its next set of recommendations for the American Health Information Community and US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt. The recommendations aim to facilitate the secure exchange of patient data. Defined in interoperability specifications that offer implementation guidance for vendors, users and health system providers, the recommendations focus on: • Consumer Access to Clinical Information: assist patients in making decisions regarding care and healthy lifestyles. • Quality: provide data for inpatient and ambulatory care and real-time or near real-time feedback on quality indicators and contra-indications for specific patients • Emergency Responder-Electronic Health Record: track and provide needed information regarding care, treatment or investigation of emergency incident victims Once these recommendations are reviewed and approved by AHIC, the Interoperability Specifications will be recommended to Secretary Leavitt for his acceptance. Going Wireless Subject of New Book for Physician Practices A new book from HIMSS, Guide to the Wireless Medical Practice, introduces the benefits of wireless technology for the medical practice, and assists with the formulation and execution of an effective wireless strategy. Edited by Steve Arnold, MD, and written by physicians and IT professionals, this book discusses the pros and cons of setting up a wireless network in a physician practice, and describes the components of a wireless op http://www.HealthcareITNews.com http://www.himss.org http://www.himss.org/hitsp http://www.himss.org/hitsp http://www.hitsp.org http://www.himss.org/store

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Healthcare It News - February 2008 Contents Hot Potato Wal-Mart Focus CIO Role Wasteland Linking Docs Katrina Work P4P Team Fire Sale? Emergency Systems Beyond Business

Healthcare It News - February 2008

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