HIMSS 16 (#HIMSS16) will be held at the Sands Expo in Las Vegas from February 29 – March 4. The theme this year is transforming health through IT. Ongoing use of EHR technology, meaningful use and developing future incentive programs will be hot topics. You can read up on our post on RCM Answers on programming related to the shift to value based care.
Now we’ve combed the HIMSS 16 conference site and found a number of great sessions addressing EHR adoption. Here’s a rundown:
Standards: Moving Beyond Meaningful Use
February 29, 2016 — 09:30AM – 10:30AM PT
Description
What are the key barriers to interoperability and how can standards resolve them? This session details the constraints upon interoperability due to existing or absent standards. The standard development processes are addressed and their impact upon the ultimate evolution of standards including lessons-learned. Also examined will be the use of policy levers to coordinate the identification, assessment, and determination of interoperability standards and implementation specifications.
Making Payment for Value Work: HIMSS Recommendations
February 29, 2016 — 03:15PM – 04:15PM PT
Description
Core to the HIMSS mission is promoting the use of health IT to improve the quality of healthcare delivery while ensuring that data collection is not an overly burdensome part of a workflow. Members of the HIMSS Quality, Cost, and Safety Committee will share recommendations for quality reporting and performance requirements for a Merit-Based Incentive Payment System.
EHR Optimization: Why Is Meaningful Use So Difficult?
March 1, 2016 — 08:30AM – 09:30AM PT
Description
Is your organization struggling with realizing the value of your EHR system? The current focus on EHR Optimization raises key questions: Why do so many EHR implementations fall short of achieving expected improvements in healthcare outcomes? Are there specific things that successful innovators do differently? This session highlights ten themes that set apart healthcare innovators who achieve positive healthcare outcomes from those who fall short.
Using EHR Data For Process Change, Throughput and Satisfaction
March 1, 2016 — 01:00PM – 02:00PM PT
Description
Learn how to leverage the power of EHR data to facilitate process change and improve key performance indicators. Using the U.S. Air Force’s Keesler Medical Center as an example, this session discusses utilizing EHR data to actively manage and make decisions related to clinical flow, throughput, staffing resources, bottlenecks and more.
PQRS and Alignment Opportunity – Concept to Operationalization
March 1, 2016 — 02:30PM – 03:30PM PT
Description
Providers must report quality measures to satisfy the requirements of multiple regulatory programs, such as PQRS and Meaningful Use, or will face a hefty penalty as a reduction in their reimbursements. This session provides actionable insights and successful strategies in operationalizing a suitable reporting option that simultaneously satisfy multiple programs.
Advancing Privacy Through Quality Improvement: Three Essentials
March 2, 2016 — 10:00AM – 11:00AM PT
Description
All effective CQI programs start with data and assessment. OCR auditors ask for it, Meaningful Use requires it, and your patients’ privacy demands it. Ongoing assessments combined with privacy data analytics help hospitals mitigate breach risk and shed light on what’s truly happening across the entire organization.
Rise of the Medical Scribe Industry-Risk to EHR Advancement
March 2, 2016 — 11:30AM – 12:30PM PT
Description
In response to EHR usability concerns, an unregulated industry has emerged to provide physicians medical scribes – unlicensed individuals to enter information into the EHR. This session articulates concerns about the rise of this industry: that it may impede EHR product evolution by reducing market demand for it, and that unsafe scribe use in CPOE will occur. An outline strategy for engagement of physicians/hospitals in driving EHR product evolution will be provided.
Evaluating Semantic Technology to Enhance EHR Visualization
March 2, 2016 — 04:00PM – 05:00PM PT
Description
The purpose of this project is to provide evidence-based research to inform future visualization and clinical decision support capabilities of Electronic Health Record (EHR) systems. The focus of the study is to evaluate the applicability of Semantic Web technology and associated formalisms to model clinical concepts and determine if they can contribute to enhanced EHR visualization.
EHR 2020: Charting the Course to a Better Future
March 3, 2016 — 02:30PM – 03:30PM PT
Description
The Report of the AMIA EHR 2020 Task Force on the Status and Future Direction of EHRs articulates 10 recommendations to advance the value of electronic health record systems. The subject of a Senate Congressional hearing during the summer of 2015, this report provides concrete recommendations for how policymakers, providers and technology developers must work together to improve how we manage and use EHRs.
Replacing Your EHR? Ensuring Successful Adoption of a Replacement EHR
March 3, 2016 — 04:00PM – 05:00PM PT
Description
Many organizations are choosing to replace their electronic health record (EHR) system with a new application to achieve Meaningful Use or align with their population health strategy. Others are switching to overcome lackluster functionality, poor vendor relations, and barriers to interoperability. All are finding EHR adoption harder than the switch from paper, and the recommended solution is similar, but often more complex.