HIMSS 13: It’s More Than Just The Technology

Robert Salmon, Carestream Health

How many times have we heard someone at places we do business with announce that “we are bringing on a new system…” in a tone that portends imminent doom and the demise of their organization.

The selection and adoption of new technology is often viewed in the same light as being devoured by alien life forms—sometimes even by those of us whose passions and livelihoods are dedicated to the design and evolution of technology for the greater common good of society. And yet when the implementation of a new IT system is successfully completed, we wonder how we ever survived without this new incarnation and soon become its greatest ambassador.

In a brilliantly delivered presentation on “Trending Health: Using Information Technology to Deliver Clinical Outcomes” during the HIMSS ’13 conference, Dr. Manuel Lowenhaupt discussed how healthcare IT is “foundational to transforming healthcare and essential to leveraging better clinical outcomes.” He described that for many healthcare facilities, the path to deriving the greatest patient benefits from new healthcare IT systems is often a multi-year journey and is about much more than just the latest IT systems.

He went on to say that culture is at the core of such change and very often, the bigger the organization the bigger the challenge. If the culture is one where there is a genuine commitment to keeping care sacred and free from internal politics, then the process has a much higher likelihood of success, and the journey can be one of excitement and continuous learning that sets the stage for significant improvement in how care is delivered. A new healthcare IT system that stands the test of time is only part or the challenge. A culture of “making it easy to do the right thing” can direct people to a common goal that leads to successful adoption.

In his keynote address at HIMSS ’13, President William J. Clinton opened by saying that “healthcare information technology and how we manage it is critical to healthcare in the 21^st century.” He provided examples of how his foundation is playing a global role in improving the lives of millions of people around the world. Citing numerous examples of how IT systems can increase access to care, lower costs, and improve the quality and deliver of care, he emphasized that “these are exciting times and it’s what you do that matters.”

What are you doing that will pave the way for successful adoption of new technologies? Is your organization culturally ready for change?

HIMSS 2013: Talk of the Town in New Orleans

Author: Rich Pulvino, Social Media & Digital Media Specialist, Carestream

HIMSS13 is the first trade show I’ve ever attended in my brief career, and let me just say that future shows will have a lot to live up to if they wish to compete with this one. In addition to its sheer size, HIMSS has attracted the most intelligent minds in healthcare IT, allowing it to serve as a think tank for where this industry will head in the next year, three years, and even five years. Based on day one’s keynote by Ochsner’s Warner Thomas, it’s clear that healthcare IT is leading the charge when it comes to the evolution of healthcare in our country, but healthcare IT can’t do it alone. It takes collaboration, understanding, and optimism from organizations if they are to truly be the appropriate healthcare provider of the future–one that provides patients with high-quality, affordable care.

Throughout the first two days of HIMSS, there have been a plethora of buzzwords bouncing around the walls of the convention center. That’s not to say that these words are spoken so much that they’ve lost all meaning, but from the volume of conversation surrounding them, it’s clear what the most important topics are here at HIMSS.

Meaningful Use: This is probably the most common phrase that has been spoken among the HIMSS crowd. With EHRs and EMRs being adopted among organizations, a wide variety of vendors present, and the looming incentives healthcare organizations stand to gain, it’s a no brainer that you can hear this phrase uttered wherever you go. HIMSS has even created a Meaningful Use showcase that allows vendors to show customers and prospects how they are helping organizations meet Meaningful Use requirements. Carestream is one of many vendors participating in that showcase, and it’s truly impressive to see just how many providers are out there working to make Meaningful Use a reality in healthcare.

Big Data: This one is kind of tied to the Meaningful Use phrase. Warner Thomas mentioned in his keynote how retailers are using big data to understand the shopping behaviors of their customers and healthcare should be doing the exact same thing. With moving to the digital realm, there are petabytes of data available to healthcare providers that allow them to understand healthcare trends and patterns among patients in a way that will can provide more efficient and higher quality care. Imagine if a hospital was able to diagnose a condition for a patient based on similar symptoms and patterns recognized by combing big data of other patients (anonymously) throughout a state or region. It’s possible, and it’s currently being put into practice today.

Patient Engagement: Yesterday was “Patient Engagement Day” HIMSS and for good reason–this initiative is seen as being the key to improving the quality of delivered healthcare. This phrase is often tied to Meaningful Use and being able to provide patients with access to their EHRs, which is actually a requirement of Meaningful Use Stage 2 stating that 5% of patients must be able to access their records. But patient engagement is so much more than EHR access. It involves access to healthcare providers, being able to communicate freely with medical professionals in a way that enlightens the patient, and allows providers to deliver better care. Patient portals play a huge role in this, because it allows patients to have the access to their healthcare providers, and delivers their own healthcare information that hey should be allowed to see whenever they want. This has been a huge initiative for Carestream with the launch of MyVue and the successful trials we’ve seen with it in the medical imaging space. It’s no surprise that this trend continues to grow in popularity.

Health IT Security: No surprise here, but with so much data becoming digital, and more providers hosting this data via cloud environments, security of this information is increasing in importance. HIPAA and HITECH has set security mandates for providers so that patient data can be protected, but it remains an ever-changing field because as the threats evolve, so must the security technologies. There are numerous vendors at HIMSS that are showing off their cloud and storage capabilities while simultaneously showing attendees the technologies and steps that are taken to ensure that data remains secure, yet still accessible to those who need it. It’s a as instinct trend to follow, and one that will only become more important as more healthcare providers step into the digital world.

While there are many more buzzwords and phrases being talked about at HIMSS–mHealth, cloud computing, ACOs, Affordable Care Act, ICD-10, etc.–these we’re the four that I’ve personally been coming across most often.

What topics have you found to be the most interesting at HIMSS13? As we move into day three, what has been your favorite moment of the event so far?

HIMSS 2013: Day 1 Keynote – Optimism and Collaboration are Vital to the Future Healthcare

Author: Rich Pulvino, Social Media & Digital Media Specialist

As described in the HIMSS13 guide, Warner Thomas is focused on addressing the changes initiated in the Affordable Care Act and health insurance reformation. His organization, Ochsner, is an eight-hospital, nonprofit, academic, multi-specialty healthcare delivery system. Prior to his role as CEO, he held the position of president and COO, leading the organization’s effort in building its own hospital system by acquiring six hospitals, which led to Ochsner’s current status.

In his HIMSS13 keynote address on day one of the conference, Thomas spent a bit time talking about the city of New Orleans and the state of revival and improvement it has been in since Hurricane Katrina hit. As devastating as the storm was, he touched on how it served as an impetus of change for the city, which is currently thriving. The city’s public schools were in poor shape before the storm. Now, New Orleans is a national model for education reform based on its large volume of charter schools. Thomas likened this change to what he is seeing in healthcare and IT throughout the city and state too.

Thomas’s focus on healthcare IT started with a comparison to the airline industry, which went through massive changes in the last decade compared to its state in the 1990’s. The number of people who fly increased dramatically, yet the number of people employed in the airline industry decreased by about 10,000. In a way, that’s what happening with healthcare—more care is needed for more people (especially as the baby boomers enter and approach retirement), yet there are fewer people providing the care. That’s where healthcare IT comes in.

For success to be seen in healthcare IT, and healthcare as a whole, collaboration and optimism is a must. Healthcare organizations cannot bury their heads in the sand if they hope to address the changes, because these changes are going to happen whether they like it or not. To show how technology can lead the charge, in addition to the airlines, Thomas brought up comparisons to the banking and retail industries–both which addressed changes by focusing on online technologies and being where the consumers are. Airlines now allow people to register for flights and print out their boarding passed themselves; ATMs and online banking allow people to fulfill their banking needs without waiting in line for a teller, and retailers now rely on big data related to purchasing behaviors so that they can understand their customers and provide them with the products or services that they need most.

When talking about healthcare, Thomas has noticed that patients want three things: more mobile access, faster care, and more affordable care. He asked why patients aren’t signing into clinics and physician offices with a tablet so that they can enter their medical history and allow it easily be stored. Electronic medical records and access to those records will be a major component of that change. With the Affordable Care Act serving as change agent to the industry, Thomas called for medical professionals to have greater access to insurance claims data so that they have more complete patient information. He said that in today’s healthcare industry, if a patient goes to another clinic, then the insurance claim should be updated automatically.

Thomas left his keynote with a big, yet vital, challenge to healthcare IT executives: Learn what your patients want and provide it to them, while cutting costs and improving the quality care. That may seem like a mouthful, but with insurance and healthcare costs rising with no end in sight, this is exactly the kind of change that needs to happen. Technology is leading the charge for this change and it is up to IT to collaborate with other departments to ensure that these new systems are providing patients with the affordable, quality care that they deserve.