2013 State Healthcare IT Connect Summit

Connecting the States’ To Transform and Modernize State Health IT Systems

The 2013 State Healthcare IT Connect Summit is brought to you in partnership with the National Association of State CIOs (NASCIO). It will take place at the Four Seasons in Baltimore, MD from May 21-22. The summit will “bring together public and private sector thought leaders to share ideas and benchmark implementation strategies of state health IT systems as they move forward with diverse State health reform agendas,” so says their website. The theme this year is, Connecting the States’ To Transform and Modernize State Health IT Systems.

The published topics for this year’s summit include:

  • Health Insurance Exchange (HIX) Implementation
  • Medicaid Enterprise Systems and Integration (across State Agencies)
  • MMIS/MITA 3.0
  • Eligibility and Enrollment Systems
  • ICD-10 Migration
  • Medicaid Data Analytics and Performance Improvement Strategies
  • State participation in New Care Delivery Models (ACOs and PCMH)
  • Data privacy and Security for HIX and HIE
  • Sustainable Health Information Exchange (HIE) Strategies
  • State Waiver Demonstration Projects
  • Combatting Fraud, Waste and Abuse

In the News Surrounding States and the Event

NYeC Announces Finalist for Patient Portal Design Challenge
The New York eHealth Collaborative named the finalist for their Patient Portal Design Challenge and the winner will be announced on May 13th. NYeC is a not-for-profit organization working to foster the implementation of health IT technologies in the state of New York. David Whitlinger, Executive Director, NYeC is speaking at the Keynote panel at the State Healthcare IT Connect Summit on May 21st.

Vangent Gets Call Center Contract from Feds
The US federal government awarded Vangent, a General Dynamics subsidiary, a $28 million contract to manage and operate a call center which will field questions from consumers regarding health insurance exchanges (HIX) for 34 States. CMS has requested final authorization on the call center operator scripts. The bid also requires the call center to be based in the continental United States.

CalHIPSO Offering Services to Transition to Self-Sustainability
The California Health Information Partnership and Services Organization (CalHIPSO), has launched Health eServices a new suite of low-cost, comprehensive consulting and technical solutions designed to help providers optimize electronic health records (EHRs) and meet Meaningful Use (MU) Stages 1 and 2 requirements and beyond. The launch is part of CalHIPSO’s long-range strategy for continuing to assist providers as the organization transitions from federal grant funding to self-sustainability by January 1, 2014. Ms. Speranza Avram, CEO of CalHIPSO is a featured speaker at this year’s Summit. You can also hear Ms. Avram discuss CalHIPSO moving forward with me at this year’s HIMSS conference.

A Look at the State Health IT Landscape for 2013 and beyond
2013 should see large scale IT projects continue as states implement Health Insurance Exchanges (in various forms) and modernize Medicaid Management Information Systems including upgraded Eligibility and Enrollment Systems that can be shared across agencies ahead of envisaged Medicaid expansion in 2014 as a result of the Affordable Care Act. Medicaid data analytics will also be a driving theme as states look to manage the data from provider networks to reduce costs, State HIEs will also looking beyond connectivity and interoperability towards analytics and care coordination as they evolve their sustainability models. See the list of predictions and trends which they say will be a focus in this year’s Summit.