The Honorable Kathleen Sebelius , Dr David Blumenthal from ONC, and Vice-Admiral and Surgeon General Dr. Regina Benjamin fueled excitement during the opening session of HIMSS 11 this morning with policy statements, details for an HIT blueprint, and personal stories that inspired attendees to continue to be trailblazers on the HIT front. Movie clip to come later…
It's all about HC IT Innovation!
HIMSS 11 is showcasing”HIT” innovation: emerging technologies, scientific advances, unique HIT uses across the globe. The opening morning at the entrance to HIT (above) had a waiting line 900-persons long!
HC IT making great strides for mankind
David Blumenthal, National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, states at HIMSS 11 that we have made unprecedented strides for the welfare of mankind. He comments that the “Age of Meaningful Use” can change the 21st century for the better with incentives, a national HIT infrastructure, and a blueprint for driving change.
Surgeon General, R. Benjamin
Dr Regina Benjamin, Surgeon General, encouraged all conference attendees to take care of themselves and to be in control of their own health. She relayed a personal story of how 2 hurricanes and 1 fire in her private family practice drove her to her first EHR. She tells all conference attendees, “Now is the time – with incentives - to get one [EHR]; we can’t afford not to!”
Need for Patient Record Integrity & Longevity
Dr. Regina Benjamin also displayed a photo of her burnt medical records. The photo illustrates one of the key incentives for the move to EMR/EHR systems – patient record integrity/longevity. Her personal stories make the need for converting to EMR/EHR more real and more immediate. Dr. Benjamin commented that the hardest changes lie inside medical communities themselves. Once that gap is bridged, it’s not that difficult to learn these systems. It will take “education and time” to make the transition.
Polarity is still an issue in EMR adoption. We cannot solve polarity, only manage it. Understanding and address each will drive the process to successful implementation faster.
Of course, we attend conferences to learn, to network, and to benchmark our best-practices against the best in the industry. We are seeing (and hearing) some new things at this year’s HIMSS conference:
* Virtual, paperless sessions with participants typing away- a new sound in conferencing.
* Social media and healthcare – major strides are evident this year, for example:
*******The Mayo Clinic now has a full time social media director who is also presenting here.
*******Think of developing 90-second TV content and spreading it via social media distribution; the Mayo Clinic did this and went from 9000 hits to 74,000 hits on their website in a one-month trial.
*******FLIP videos are being used by Mayo as the primary vehicle for moving/communicating content, saving thousands in real time interviews across healthcare systems.
* Social media is being used to extend word of mouth referrals, speed of connecting, and advance research time exponentially as info can be shared globally.
* New from the Exhibit Hall- synching EMRs across the many devices that MDs are using – office devices, Smartphones, and ipads. MDs represent one of the largest purchasing groups for iPads in their first 6 months in the market.
* Telemedicine units previewed here can count pores on your skn in high resolution and lend themselves to some types of virtual exams.
* e-ICUs housed in data centers can monitor patients remotely in hospitals — personal health ID cards with insurance, medical hx, provider, and $ all tied together.
More to come…
Our roving Healthcare IT specialist, Tanya Mack, has sent us some interesting statistics and information gleaned from keynote and conference sessions at this year’s HIMSS conference in Orlando. Check this out:
* Mobile health = mhealth (personalized health from your pocket) is the main focus of the educational sessions.
* 17% of people with Smartphones use them for health related apps and their use in healthcare will continue growing.
* 72% of MDs currently use Smartphones.
* It is estimated that 500 million people will have health apps on their Smartphone to manage fitness, exercise, and health issues by the year 2015.
* More African Americans adopt health related mobile apps than any other group, nearly two times the rate of other users.
* Remote mhealth expected to be a $2-6 billion industry by 2015.
* Mobile is going global: In some African nations, large numbers of people can’t get water but they have cell phones to disseminate critical health information.
More to come…
Below:
Over 900 vendors – wireless, connectivity, social media, and mHealth are all hot topics here. Tanya vows to embrace technology and become a “paperless, mobile attendee.”
900+ vendors on hand!
Super convenient kiosks lead HIMSS 11′s 30,000+ participants directly and step-by-step wherever they need to go!
HIMSS 11 Kiosks Lead the Way
Keeping participants informed and up-to-date, near and far. Well-stationed Internet Computers provide easy, open access to participants.
Whether you brought your laptop or not, every participant can "phone home" via HIMSS 11 terminals
