Healthcare IT News - October 2008 - (Page 41)

40 The HIMSS Insider s October 2008 www.himss.org wo provocative publications came out made. They continue by suggesting the busiover the last two months. The first in ness case would be better served by standards Health Affairs' August Web Exclusive titled, focused simply on moving the information in “Health Information Technology: A Few any form rather than standards focused on Years of Magical Thinking.” It makes the case semantic interoperability. Plain text, read by a efforts to spur adoption of healthcare IT and physician, can support better clinical decisions remove presumed barriers, such than a physician waiting for fully as lack of standards, are misstructured medical STANDARDS encoded, exchanges between placed. Rather, we should be summary focusing on integrating healthEHR systems. They conclude care policies and aligning incenwith an alternative route, one tives. The second, a white paper which is based on minimal stanfrom the HIMSS Financial dards to share useful informaby Ed Larsen Systems Steering Committee, tion in any form while developtitled “The NHIN Highway is Already ing the policy and incentives framework to Paved.” Its subtitle is its best summary: “The effectively use and advance healthcare IT as a Existing HIPAA Transaction Exchange tool for providing more effective and efficient Network is an Able Solution for the care. This is a perfect segue into our second Conveyance of Clinical and Administrative publication. Information.” The HIMSS Financial Systems Steering “Magical Thinking” is framed as the les- Committee's white paper* points out under sons learned by the Markle Foundation's HIPAA regulations, millions of standardsConnecting for Health since 2002. First, the based administrative and financial transacauthors argue the focus of national initiatives tions are securely conducted online today. on interoperability standards is non-produc- Providers and payors, as well as intermediate tive, even counterproductive, by spurring the clearinghouses, are all covered entities with notion standards work is not leading to faster the same duties to protect the privacy of peradoption of healthcare IT. Their second point sonal health information. The authors ask is there is no business reason for sharing why the national and regional health informahealthcare information. They cite the mis- tion exchange (HIE) initiatives are not leveraligned and sometimes perverse payment aging this in place “network” rather than incentives, such as the loss in revenue building a separate, unfunded national health incurred when an investment in healthcare IT information network (NHIN). reduces duplicate testing. Thus, standards will Like the previous publication, the authors only be adopted after the business case is cite the lessons learned, in this case with the T Lessons Learned INSIGHT HIPAA-based “healthcare super highway.” They point out virtually all claims for healthcare services payment are currently exchanged on this highway and there is a 25-year history of clearinghouses maintaining and expanding these services, whereas the NHIN and HIEs are unproven, complex and require a large investment. What should we make of these two publications that challenge our current national healthcare IT initiatives? In the online Standards Insight, we offer some responses, what we have learned from the Office of the National Coordinator's initiatives and the different decisions it made. While simple technical interoperability is one path forward, only semantic interoperability, when joined with business and policy interoperability as we discussed last month, will enable healthcare reform, quality improvement and cost efficiencies. We can all agree interoperable systems and networks, simple or complex, do not make the business case for information sharing. Hopefully, we have all learned lessons and can provide valuable counsel and not simply the promotion of intellectual or economicvested interests to the next administration. For the complete article, see the October Standards Insight. Ed Larsen is an independent strategy consultant who tracks interoperability standards for HIMSS. Comments or questions can be sent to erlarsen@erlinc.com. *As with Standards Insight, this white paper expresses the views of the authors and does not necessarily reflect the views of HIMSS. s 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 Charles E. Christian, FCHIME, FHIMSS Director, Information Systems/ Chief Information Officer Good Samaritan Hospital VICE CHAIR Liz Johnson, RN, MSN, FHIMSS Vice President, Applied Clinical Informatics Tenet Healthcare Corp. CHAIR ELECT Barry P. Chaiken, MD, MPH, FHIMSS Chief Medical Officer DocsNetwork, Ltd. VICE CHAIR ELECT Liz Johnson, RN, MSN, FHIMSS Vice President, Applied Clinical Informatics Tenet Healthcare Corp. John H. Daniels, FACHE, CPHIMS, CHPS, FHIMSS Chief Information Officer Evolvent Technologies Inc. David Finn Vice President/Chief Information Officer/ Privacy and Information Security Officer Texas Children's Hospital C. Martin Harris, MD, MBA, FHIMSS Chief Information Officer and Chairman, IT Division The Cleveland Clinic Foundation Executive Director eCleveland Clinic Joy G. Keeler, MBA, FHIMSS Principal Health Information Technology The MITRE Corp. Holly D. Miller, MD, MBA, FHIMSS Vice President and Chief Medical Information Officer University Hospitals Carol R. Selvey, MHSA, FHIMSS Principal The Revere Group Jay Srini, FHIMSS Chief Innovation Officer UPMC Insurance Services Division Jonathan M. Teich, MD, PhD, FHIMSS Chief Medical Informatics Officer Elsevier Health Sciences Charlene S. Underwood, MBA, FHIMSS Director, Government and Industry Affairs Siemens Medical Solutions ADVISORY BOARD MEMBERS Get Connected With HIMSS on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter I n order to facilitate more knowledge sharing and communications among professionals in the healthcare IT and management systems field, the Society has launched HIMSS Groups on Linkedin, Facebook and Twitter. Members of these groups expand their business and social contacts through online networking and discussions forums, as well as get real-time updates and news from HIMSS. Linkedin is a social networking tool that helps individuals discover inside connections to industry experts, business partners and recommended job candidates worldwide. By linking up with the HIMSS Linkedin Group, individuals streamline this process by gaining instant access to a growing group of healthcare IT and management systems professionals. At time of publication, more than 3,500 professionals had joined the HIMSS Linkedin Group to not only strengthen and extend their networks, but to participate in the discussion forum. Get Linkedin with HIMSS at www.linkedin. com/e/gis/93115/62E0A5060A4E. Facebook is a social networking utility that connects people with friends and colleagues who work, study and live around them and around the world. People use Facebook to not only stay connected with friends and colleagues, but meet new people, upload photos, share links and videos, and join groups of interest. The HIMSS Facebook Group convenes professionals to expand their contacts, participate in group discussions as well as stay up to date on HIMSS news and events. With HIMSS events, Facebook members can see who will be attending, pre-plan meetings with other attendees or exhibitors and more. Add the HIMSS Facebook Group at www.facebook.com/ group.php?gid=37449383456. Twitter is a free social messaging service that connects users in real-time using “tweets”-short messages, 140 characters max. These alerts or mini-broadcasts can be sent via text messaging to cell phones or via the Web. By joining HIMSS' official Twitter account, people follow the Society's feed for news, discussions and alerts on healthcare IT industry topics. Twitter also creates a new avenue for industry or niche interests to network and connect with each other. At time of publication, about 500 people were following HIMSS on Twitter. Keep current of HIMSS happenings and industry developments: Join HIMSS on Twitter at www.twitter.com/himss. Look for more information in coming issues of the HIMSS Insider and HIMSS Weekly Insider. s Mike McGill, PhD Internet2 Howard A. Burde, Esquire Blank Rome LLP A. John Blair, III, MD President and CEO Taconic IPA Sunny Sanyal Chief Operating Officer McKesson Provider Technologies BOARD [continued from page 39] Adam Mason Gale Klas Enterprises LLC Orem, Utah Matthew A. Grob, CPHIMS, FHIMSS RSM McGladrey Inc. New York, NY Mark J. Jacobs, MHA, CPHIMS, FHIMSS WellSpan Health York, Pa. Laura D. Jantos, FHIMSS ECG Management Consultants Inc. Seattle, Wash. Robin S. Raiford, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS Eclipsys Corporation Coppell, Texas VIRTUAL [continued from page 39] Led by industry thought leaders and designed to provide answers to healthcare professionals most pressing IT concerns, HIMSS Virtual Conference education session highlights include: Groundbreaking Industry Research “Proclamation for Change”-Transforming the Hospital Patient Care Environment Panelists Ann Hendrich, RN, MSN, F.A.A.N., vice president, clinical excellence operations, Ascension Health (St. Louis); Liz Johnson, MSN, RN, FHIMSS, vice president, applied clinical informatics, Tenet Healthcare Corp. (Dallas); and Joyce Sensmeier, MS, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, vice president, informatics, HIMSS, will come together to discuss recommendations set forth in the groundbreaking, time-and-motion study Proclamation for Change, conducted by researchers at Ascension Health and Kaiser Permanente. This session will link the recommendations on improving the delivery of safe, high-quality, patient-centered care to all stakeholders in the hospital env http://www.himss.org http://www.worldofhealthit.org/education/though_leaders.aspx http://www.worldofhealthit.org/education/though_leaders.aspx http://www.worldofhealthit.org/education/precon.aspx http://www.worldofhealthit.org/education/precon.aspx http://www.himss.org http://www.himss.org/financialedge http://www.himss.org/store http://www.himss.org/scholarships http://www.himss.org/awards

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of Healthcare IT News - October 2008

Healthcare IT News - October 2008 Contents Seattle's Slate Board 2.0 MGMA Newsmaker IT Battles Infection Beyond Adoption Excellence in Maine Carrot and Stick HP Layoffs Mobile Workstations Automating Offices

Healthcare IT News - October 2008

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