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Mostashari: "across all communities there are gaps in care, surprising for a health person" #HIMSS12

Mostashari says making sure small care practices arent left behind is a key goal #HIMSS12

Mostashari: "we've made more progress with EHRs in the past 2 years then we have in 20" #HIMSS12

The most popular themes for American attendees were the future of healthcare with regard to the regulation of information and discussions over whether it is feasible in the healthcare sector to wait for the upcoming 2012 elections.

The opening speech at the Expo Center, given by Biz Stone, the co-founder of Twitter, featured advance announcements of stand-out ideas and set out the schedule for the rest of the days, which was also published each morning on a large panel in the central hall, with tweets being shared between different conferences, workshops and educational seminars using the hashtag #HIMSS12.

On Thursday, Farzad Mostashari, MD, National Healthcare Information Technology Coordinator, made important announcements regarding the many changes in federal policy related to the criteria for meaningful use and other regulations.

Amongst the several new features on show this year what most caught the public’s attention was the mHimss chapter, which exhibited new healthcare solutions in mobile phone technology. Undoubtedly the most important innovation was the chance to take part in the event without having to get on a plane, thanks to the implementation of virtual conferences.

By Patty Enrado, Special Projects  

 Health Care IT News

 

Edna Boone and Jan Lugibihl of the HIMSS Usability Task Force, which provides HIMSS members, vendors and external organizations with education, tools and best practices in the usability of health IT, led the workshop.

Hosted on Sunday, Feb. 19 and Monday, Feb. 20, HIMSS12 Workshops topics include:

Attendees of the full day Clinical and Business Intelligence Workshop: Unlocking Tomorrow’s Forecast Today: Driving Healthcare Decisions through Intelligence will learn from industry leaders and experts about the skills and tools needed to maximize current analytical methodologies, and learn best practices of utilizing IT and management systems to improve the efficiency and quality of care delivery.

 

During the interactive, full-day EHR Vendor Evaluation, Selection and Implementation: Mission Possible: Choosing and “Meaningfully Using” Health IT for Quality Care Delivery, healthcare providers and staff will learn how to develop a roadmap for meeting organization-specific goals in conjunction with meaningful use and other incentive programs.

In the past, PACS was primarily a radiology decision. The advent of cloud-based services for PACS has moved this critical system onto the radar of healthcare IT decision makers and hospital executives—and into the center spotlight in the exhibit halls and technical sessions of this year’s HIMSS conference.

In Booth #2614, Carestream representatives, will be diving deeper into the total cost of ownership of in-house archives from technology maintenance to hidden costs like data migration and IT staffing requirements. Cloud services offer an attractive clinical delivery model for many healthcare facilities and can cut costs by up to 30 percent.

With the cloud no capital investment is required since the supplier owns all the data centers and equipment, and the service is paid for on a per-study cost. Software and hardware upgrades can be included in the contract. The cloud delivers instant scalability that easily accommodates increases, or decreases, in imaging volumes. Our cloud costs savings infographic offers a quick primer (click image to view full size).