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Update on RHIO Symposium at HIMSS Annual Conference The highlight of the HIMSS 2006 Annual Conference in San Diego for many this year was the RHIO Symposium that was held on Sunday, February 12, 2006. Though it was a beautiful day outside, the daylong presentations regarding the development of RHIOs was well worth the time. The day started with a great opening presentation by C. Martin Harris, MD, MBS, Chief Information Officer, Cleveland Clinic Foundation from our home state of Ohio. Dr. Harris gave an overview of the role of the RHIO Foundation and the HIT Dash Board. Additional information on both of these topics can be found on the HIMSS web site at: RHIO Foundation Info: www.himss.org/ASP/topics_FocusDynamic.asp?faid=144 HIT Dashboard Info: www.hitdashboard.com/ Both are excellent resources for members and the HIT Dashboard is a great way to see what projects are occurring around the country. The next speaker was Kelly Cronin from the Office of the National Coordinator. She gave updates on key projects that are underway. The most interesting to me was the update on the Commission for the Certification of Health Information Technology (CCHIT). This initiative is moving forward rapidly and the first set of standards for ambulatory care EHR systems are now ready. If you are or have an ambulatory care setting, then this information could be very valuable to you, especially if you are looking to purchase a new information system in the near future. The www.cchit.orgweb site is packed with detailed information and updates on this process. Another point that was made by Kelly was that there is still no clear direction regarding revising the Stark Anti-Kickback laws to allow for health systems to fund health records for physicians. Lasted word on this as recently as this past week is that it might be 12 to 18 months before this issue is resolved. One interesting point that was presented was the concept of local RHIOs connecting to a statewide RHIO and then to the NHIN (National Health Information Network.) This point was reinforced the next day when Dr. David J. Brailer (National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Health and Human Services) made the same point in his talk. This is a new concept and signals concern at the federal level that they do not want to connect to hundreds of RHIOs, but rather to a more manageable state or regional health information network. This was clearly a trial balloon to see what the reaction would be from the HIMSS attendees. The general response that I heard was that this approach would make sense. It will be interesting to see how this evolves. Other highlights of the day revolved around in-depth discussions regarding the business structures of RHIOs and concerns about how the IRS was going to view these new entities. At this point, the general consensus is that there still is no clear model that can be pointed to as the perfect model. There are huge variations on how RHIOs have evolved and frankly many have not yet developed into what most would consider a sustainable business model. Another discussion focused on the consumer issues related to the development of RHIOs and on the HIPAA privacy and security related issues. The concerns about privacy are serious and will need to be carefully watched. The outcome of these key issues has regional, state and national implications and is very complex. The role of the consumer in their health record is going to be a key aspect in the development of RHIOs. Another highlight of the day was a presentation by Jan Root, Assistant Executive Director, UHIN (Utah Health Information Network). It was refreshing to hear from an organization that has been functioning successfully as a RHIO for many years. Her talk was about trust issues between organizations and how they went about defining who would be included in their RHIO. Essentially, anyone who has a need to send electronic transactions is included in their model. It is a very open, all-inclusive approach and it has been very successful. Nearly every provider, payer and government agency involved with health care is included in the network. The organization and the services it provides have taken many years to develop, but each step was taken carefully and was vetted through their process. UHIN is a great case study in how to build a sustainable business model and should be studied by anyone trying to develop a RHIO. Update on HIMSS Advocacy Hopefully you all noticed our announcement in March of the call for volunteers to participate in the Advocacy program. On March 17th, HIMSS national conducted a nationwide call of Advocacy volunteers to participate in a conference call to discuss among other things Advocacy Day in Washington, DC on June 6, 2006. This is the day that HIMSS representatives will be visiting members of congress on capital hill to help bring awareness to HIT to all members of congress. This is a much more aggressive approach than HIMSS has taken in the past. The call for volunteers is to establish a grass roots network nationwide to help present HIMSS’ legislative agenda. This process is also intended to train HIMSS members on how to interact with their political leaders at both the national and state level. Any member of CSOHIMSS who is interested in getting involved with this process should contact: Stephen A. Wood, FHIMSS Advocacy Liaison – CSOHIMSS hcpsw@aol.com 614-844-6728 Here in Ohio we would like to build an Advocacy Team of at least six – ten members. The first call for volunteers found us four CSOHIMSS members ready to get involved: Beverly Bell, IBM Darby Dennis, St. Rita’s Medical Center Sean McPhillips, First Consulting Group Rick Moore, DME Consulting We are still looking for a few more members to get involved. This is an election year and there is going to be lots of legislation being proposed around health care IT initiatives. Now is the time to explore those latent political aspirations!! Get involved!! One final note, all HIMSS members are invited to Advocacy Day at National Health IT Week on Tuesday, June 06, 2006 (06/06/06) in Washington, DC at the Renaissance Hotel. The HIMSS Summit will follow on June 7th and 8th. If interested go to www.himss.org/summit. CSOHIMSS Spring Conference 2006 May 5th, 2006 Mark your calendars now! The CSOHIMSS Chapter is pleased to announce our 2006 Spring Conference scheduled for Friday, May 5th, 2006 at the Quest Business Center in Columbus, Ohio. This Spring, the CSOHIMSS Chapter is taking on a new set of themes our members have identified as critical and timely topics. This Spring Conference will feature sessions on the following topics. • Keynote Sessions: National Level EHR and Advocacy • Selection and Negotiation • Disaster Recovery • Document Imaging: Organizing the EMR • Closing the Loop: Medication Administration Process • Panel - Recap Strategy and Tactical discussions Attendance to the CSOHIMSS Spring Conference 2006 will also earn you valuable Continuing Education Units towards certification renewal for CPHIMS and CHS. Attendees can earn an estimate 5+ CEU Contact Hours and documentation of attendance will be made available for all those who attend. Past conferences have resulted in great feedback from attendees, with record-breaking attendances. To find out more about the 2006 CSOHIMSS Spring Conference, download the brochure at: http://www.csohimss.org/docs/CSOHIMSS-Conference-Spring-2006.pdf If you are interested in attending the 2006 CSOHIMSS Spring Conference, you may register online at: http://www.csohimss.org/calendar/calendar.html Thank you for your attention and we look forward to seeing you in May! Tristate Luncheon at 2006 HIMSS Conference Huge Success!!! This past February, the Central and Southern Ohio Chapter of HIMSS partnered with the Bluegrass HIMSS Chapter, the Indian HIMSS Chapter, and the Northern Ohio HIMSS Chapter to organize a multi-chapter luncheon. With an estimated 250 people in attendance, the turnout was far better than any of us could have imagined. This year’s luncheon was the product of the continued success of previous year’s luncheons and was expanded to include our colleagues in the Northern Ohio Chapter. Due to last year’s success and aggressive marketing, attendance for the 2006 Luncheon at the HIMSS National Confernece in San Diego more than doubled the attendance at the 2005 Luncheon in Dallas. The buffet was catered professionally and the organization of the event went off without a hitch. In addition, with the sponsorship of corporate partners, there was no cost to any of the chapters’ members in attendance. This multi-chapter forum allowed these closely neighboring chapters to interact in a way they we never have before. It provided a sense of cohesion that we all agreed would lead to mutual benefit on future endeavors. Different from last year’s luncheon, we secured a HIMSS guest speaker to address the group. In addition, this year’s luncheon was substantially better funded due to the generous donation and support of our many chapter sponsors. As a result, these neighboring chapters will likely support and attend future events with one another. Finally, all four chapter presidents agreed that this luncheon will be a regular event at future HIMSS Nationals. Plans are already underway for the multi-chapter luncheon to be held at the 2007 National HIMSS conference in New Orleans. We invite all to attend and there is no cost to chapter members (a free lunch!). If you have any suggestions for improvement of the multi-chapter luncheon and/or if you have any questions or comments, please feel free to contact us directly. For those of you who are interested in learning more about what’s going on at our neighboring chapters, visit their websites at: www.bluegrasshimss.org, www.indianahimss.org, and www.nohimss.org or you can get involved more with our own chapter. |
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