Electronic health records are always front-and-center at HIMSS Annual Conference and this year will be no different. Whether on the show floor, discussed in keynotes, or education sessions containing best practices and hard-wrung insights, EHRs will be among the most dominant trends at HIMSS17.
Multiple sessions and forums will highlight challenges, innovations, and the big promise of EHRs, while others will home in on related federal compliance programs, including MACRA, MIPS and APMs. Session will also offer attendees updates on OpenNotes, harnessing EHRs for clinical improvement as well as integrating other technologies into the EHR, notably for genomics and analytics.
Here is our roundup of EHR sessions at HIMSS17:
Managing a legacy team through an EHR transition
Three years ago, Houston Methodist embarked on a journey to replace their existing clinical systems with an integrated EHR. A key success factor has been the effective management of the legacy application portfolio and the staff and leadership who are responsible for its effective functioning. This presentation will detail the approach taken at Houston Methodist to meet this challenge and will provide lessons learned for any health system planning or currently engaged in a large-scale EHR implementation.
Speakers: Penny Black, Director of EHR & Perioperative at Houston Methodist Hospital
Alan Perkins, Associate Vice President, The Chartis Group
When: February 21, 2017 — 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Where: Tangerine Ballroom F3
Integrating genomics results and EHR functionality
Since incorporating raw genomic data into EHR is fraught with performance impacts and regulatory restrictions, such reanalysis requires development of alternate solutions; also, it becomes vitally important to maintain an up-to-date knowledge base of current clinical knowledge. In this session, learn how to define how EHR interacts with genomic data, even as interpretation of that data keeps changing; analyze build vs. buy decision in genomic medicine; plan the structure of a team needed for launching genomic medicine; and assess the need for genomics technology in modern medicine.
Speakers: Kamalakar Gulukota, Director of Bioinformatics, Northshore University Healthsystem
Henry Dunnenberger, Program Director, Pharmacogenomics, Northshore University Healthsystem
When: February 21, 2017 — 10 AM – 11 AM
Where: Room 331A
YourTurn: Identifying and resolving EHR usability and medical errors
EHRs were designed and adopted to make care more efficient for clinicians and safer for patients. However, some EHR layouts and designs referred to as usability have contributed to inadvertent patient harm, drawing concerns from providers, vendors and policymakers. Additional oversight and testing, and the establishment of a multi-stakeholder initiative to foster collaboration among providers, EHR vendors and government could help detect problems before safety errors occur.
Speaker: Josh Rising, Director of Healthcare Programs, The Pew Charitable Trust
When: February 21, 2017 — 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Where: Room 300
Enabling advanced EHR analytics with clinical terminology
SNOMED CT is a globally-used clinical terminology that is freely available to U.S. users through NLM and is designated for problem representation by the 2014 EHR certification criteria. This session will focus on a variety of approaches using SNOMED CT to address different clinical analytics use cases, such as historical summaries, clinical decision support, population health and clinical research, along with an overview of guidance developed during a study of analytics deployments. The session will also cover practical experience from EHR vendors, healthcare provider organizations and other stakeholders, including benefits realization and challenges.
Speakers: David C. Markwell, Head of Education, IHTSDO / SNOMED International
Linda Bird, Senior Implementation Specialist, IHTSDO / SNOMED International
When: February 23, 2017 — 12 PM – 1 PM
Where: Room 207C
Designing for data-first - Rapidly deliver data from an EHR
Using a data first strategy, MD Anderson installed an enterprise-wide EHR and on the second day of operation was able to move over one thousand columns of data into its standalone data warehouse. The presenters will discuss the tools and approaches necessary to succeed in a data first strategy as well as techniques for overcoming organizational obstacles. This presentation will be valuable for organizations preparing to install a new EHR and ones where they must get data out of an existing one.
Speakers: John Frenzel, MD, Chief Medical Informatics Officer, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
Chris Belmont, System President and CIO, University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center
When: February 22, 2017 — 10 AM - 11AM
Where: Tangerine Ballroom F3
Open APIs: Crush your EHR conversions and legacy challenges
In this presentation, we will share how one health system and an affiliate deployed Open APIs and web services to connect and share data across two different EHR platforms as part of a legacy EHR management plan. We will explore the limitations of traditional data conversion approaches and the advantages of web services in meeting requirements for data access, end-user satisfaction, security, compliance and cost. We will show how this same approach can be extended to solve many other problems related to EHR integration. We will describe the challenges and limitations of the traditional approach to cross-platform data sharing and legacy data management and discuss OpenAPIs and web services as an alternative to traditional data sharing and integration approaches (extraction, CCD) and technologies (HL7).
Speakers:
Peter Chang, MD, Chief Medical Informatics Officer, Tampa General Hospital
David Levin, MD, Chief Medical Officer, Sansoro Health
When: February 21, 2017 — 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Where: Tangerine Ballroom F3
Using EHRs and case management to improve patient care and population health
Swedish-American Medical Group (SAMG) has applied analytics to its EHR data for care management insights for four years. Combining multiple types of clinical data from the system's health records has helped clinicians identify and stratify chronically ill patients. Attendees at this presentation will learn how SAMG applied analytics to their EHR data to improve quality of care and how they have used data and analytics to prevent hospitalizations among high-risk patients. They will learn how clinical data in EHR systems helped facilitate the evolution of care management from a payer-driven exercise to a provider-focused model.
Speakers:
Thomas Schiller, MD, President, Swedish-American Medical Group
Jennier Kuroda, Quality Improvement Manager, Swedish-American Medical Group
When: February 22, 2017 — 4 PM – 5 PM
Where: Room 331A
MeRLin (Medical Record TimeLine): Improving EHR clinical chart review through effective visualization of longitudinal medical record data
Exhaustive lists of textual EHR documents are inefficient and cognitively burdensome. We report our experience piloting a Medical Record timeLine (MeRLin) that aggregates and filters EHR-derived events in real time into an interactive, single-screen visualization of the longitudinal medical record to improve clinical chart review and decision making. Participants can define the common methods for visual display of textual/report-based EHR data and their limitations, learn alternative visual display methods for longitudinal EHR data, specifically as implemented in novel MeRLin timeline tool, and outline challenges with longitudinal clinical data visualization.
Speakers: Matthew Nolan, MD, Mayo Clinic Rochester
Vitaly Herasevich, CPHIMS, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Medicine, Mayo Clinic
When: February 19, 2017 — 8 AM - 4:30 PM
Where: Room 331A
Developing innovative EHR rools to prevent lost revenue
CMS instituted the 2 Midnight Rule impacting reimbursement on unsigned inpatient admission orders by the time of discharge. This meant that any admission order for inpatient stays entered by a provider without active admitting privileges would require a co-signature by the actual admitting or attending provider prior to discharge. If an authenticating signature was not obtained at the time of discharge the visit charges would need to be downgraded to outpatient stay resulting in lost revenue. This poster will show the tools that were developed and the Pre/Post Impact of revenue retention as a result of their implementation.
Speaker: Demeree Whitt, Physician Informatics, Baylor Health Care System
When: February 21, 2017 — 10 AM – 5 PM
Where: This is part of a special program called Emerging Professionals Poster Sessions.
Aligning CMS hospital quality reporting and payment for value
In 2017, CMS will require all eligible hospitals to electronically report electronic clinical quality measures for Inpatient Quality Reporting. CMS leadership will discuss EHR-enabled quality reporting requirements and strategic focus for aligning claims driven Value Based Purchasing Programs with EHR clinical quality data reporting. The speaker will identify the 15 clinical quality measures and reporting mechanisms that hospitals must report on in 2017 order to avoid the Medicare Inpatient Quality Reporting Program negative payment adjustment for FY2019; detail the strategic plan for CMS to align payment for value programs with clinical quality reporting programs for hospitals; and identify strategic opportunities to identify quality improvement opportunities within your organization that align with CMS quality improvement priorities.
Speaker: TBD
When: February 19, 2017 — 3:15 PM - 4:15 PM
Where: Room 208C
MHS GENESIS: Driving successful business transformation
This session will provide an overview of MHS GENESIS, how MHS GENESIS compares with private sector EHR implementations, and how the MHS intends to navigate the road to success. Speakers will demonstrate that while MHS GENESIS is a large and complex business transformation, it is an accomplishable endeavor. They will recognize that MHS Leadership is actively partnering to lead the transformation effort, and will illustrate that adherence to the MHS GENESIS Guiding Principles helps focus MHS efforts.
Speakers: Paul Cordts, MD, Electronic Health Record Functional Champion, Military Health System, Office of the Functional Champion, Defense Health Agency
Colonel Richard "Chip" Terry, Acting Military Health System Chief Information Officer and Acting Director, Defense Health Agency
Stacy Cummings, Program Executive Director, Defense Healthcare Management Systems
When:February 21, 2017 — 11:30 AM - 12:30 PM
Where: Room 311A
OpenNotes - Overall status, approaches and experience: One year later
This session will discuss the benefits and risks of providing patients' easy and secure access to their EHR information. We will provide an update on the overall status of OpenNotes adoption in the U.S. and highlight some of the experiences and approaches that organizations have taken in opening their EHRs to direct patient access. The work of the NW OpenNotes Consortium and Geisinger Health Systems will be highlighted. Examples from other organizations will be presented as well. Speakers will list several known benefits that result from providing patients easy and secure access to their EHR notes and describe the impact of implementing OpenNotes on physicians and other healthcare providers; identify the key steps necessary to implement Open Notes in a healthcare organization; and describe two key reasons why a community consortium approach can accelerate the implementation of OpenNotes among healthcare organizations in that community.
Speakers: Homer Chin, MD, Physician Champion, OHSU / WCDB / KP NORTHWEST / BIDMC
John Kravitz, CIO, Geisinger Health System
When: February 22, 2017 — 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Where: Tangerine Ballroom, F3
African-American SIG
Join the African-American SIG for a discussion of ways to advance knowledge and decrease disparities within the African-American community utilizing health information technology in the delivery of healthcare, EHR adoption and patient engagement.
When: February 22, 2017 — 03:45 PM - 04:45 PM
Where: Room W303A
Integrating non-DICOM images using XDS
Non-DICOM image and multimedia capture increasingly proliferate across most organizations with limited integration capabilities. Utilizing XDS profiles and an ECM utility as a basic foundation, an enterprise archive with HL7 integration with the EHR and an enterprise viewer, we designed, developed and deployed a standards-based working model for centralized non-DICOM image capture, storage and EHR distribution. In this session, we detail the work and technical data flows used to achieve this integration.
Speakers: Dawn Cram, Application Systems Development Manager, University of Miami Health System
Brian Hart, Vice President, Research and Development, Merge Healthcare, an IBM Company
When: February 21, 2017 — 8:30 AM - 9:30 AM
Where: Room 311A
Solving the drug-disease interaction over-alerting dilemma
Drug-disease interaction clinical care guidance is a highly desired EHR functionality supporting patient safety, yet physician acceptance and implementations remain low due to poor usability. We set out to solve this long-standing problem, improving the usability and utility of drug-disease CDS by creating a disease interaction knowledge base subset followed by implementation and testing within the Kaiser Permanente (KP) EHR system. Phase I: The Disease Interaction Scoring Tool (DIST) was developed for assessing knowledge base content to aid in the reproducible creation of the most significant subset of contraindicated disease interaction alerts. We describe DIST in detail, present results of the clinician-validated subset that was then later implemented in the KP Northern California EHR system. Phase II: Relevancy was demonstrated during implementation of the clinician-validated subset. While results varied depending on diseases, the acceptance rate was favorable based on alert data captured over a three-month period.
Speakers: Jeff Bubp, Manager, Clinical Editorial, First Databank
Brian Hoberman, MD, Kaiser Permanente KP Health Connect Physician Leader
When: February 21, 2017 — 2:30 PM - 3:30 PM
Where: Room 311E
Northwell clinical snapshot: Improving primary care with point-of-care clinical quality dashboard
Northwell Health's Clinical Snapshot improves Primary Care quality and efficiency. Clinical Snapshot is integrated into outpatient EHR, provides a point-of-care huddle-report, enables clinically intuitive workflows and guided review of pertinent data to support modern care requirements, and was developed to support rapid transformation of practices into Patient Centered Medical Homes. For discussion will be clinical quality improvement, care coordination at visit, and reporting.
Speakers: Vishnoo Kothapeta, StrategistClinical Provider Tech Solutions, Northwell Health
Barry Goetz, MD, Director Clinical Information Systems, Northwell Health
When: February 19, 2017 — 8 AM - 4:30 PM
Where: This session is part of the Physician's IT Symposium at HIMSS17.
The role of technology in transitioning to a new care model
Widespread adoption of electronic health records (EHRs) is nearly complete, but now that the majority of care centers have implemented this technology, how do we maximize the benefits of integrating data into the care delivery? More importantly, what do you do when your institution’s EHR is unable to evolve with the organization, limiting the ability to address the changing landscape and needs of your institution? The introduction of new healthcare delivery models present unique and complex challenges for institutions that are exploring and implementing new models of care delivery in preparation for the value-based care reimbursement structure. This session will identify best practices for overcoming EHR integration challenges and implementing technologies to meet the needs of an organization embarking on a new care model. Speakers will discuss learnings through a real-world case study from an advanced comprehensive primary care organization for transitioning to a Patient Centered Medical Home (PCMH) approach to healthcare delivery.
Speakers: Amy Mechley, MD, Medical Director, Wellness Division, Christ Hospital Health Network
Sandra Selman, Director of Ambulatory Quality and Care Management, Christ Hospital Health Network
When: February 22, 2017 — 4 PM – 5 PM
Where: Room 311E
Emerging infectious diseases, clinical decision support, and electronic health records meaningful use
Under the EHR Incentive Programs, the CMS has made payment incentives available for Medicare and Medicaid eligible providers and hospitals that purchase, implement, and use certified EHRs systems. This session will demonstrate how collaborative efforts between the CDC and ONC, and close partnerships with the healthcare and health information technology sectors, were instrumental in the development and deployment of critical clinical decision support tools to address the emerging public health threat of Zika virus. CDC, and ONC worked, in-collaboration with software vendors to develop resources to support rapid deployment of critical information through EHRs and other clinical software. The session will also discuss how this collaboration established repeatable processes to support the current response and future crises and how vendors and local sites can use the content.
Speakers: Sanjeev Tandon, MD, Lead Zika Health Information Technology Team, CDC
Daniel Chaput, MM, Office of Standards and Technology, ONC
Nedra Garrett, MS, Senior Informatics Advisor, Office of the Director, Centger for Surveillance Epidemiology and Laboratory Services, CDC
Floyd Eisenberg, MD, MPH, FACP, President, Iparsimony, LLC
When: February 20, 2017 — 01:30 PM - 02:30 PM
Where: Room 307A
Related HIMSS17 guides:
⇒ A guide to precision medicine at HIMSS17
⇒ A guide to cybersecurity at HIMSS17
⇒ A guide to population health at HIMSS17
⇒ A guide to Women in Health IT happenings at HIMSS17
HIMSS17 runs from Feb. 19-23, 2017 at the Orange County Convention Center.
This article is part of our ongoing coverage of HIMSS17. Visit Destination HIMSS17 for previews, reporting live from the show floor and after the conference.