2015 HIMSS Conference will focus on EHRs and MU
The 2015 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Annual Conference & Exhibition is the largest conference held each year for the health information technology sector of the health care industry. This year it will take place from April 12 to April 16 in Chicago. According to EHR Intelligence, experts predict that this year's meeting will see a crowd of over 38,000 physicians, electronic health record vendors, health care IT professionals and executives from across the globe.
Meetings focused on EHR implementation
As the health care industry places increasing importance on interoperability and health information exchange, it is not surprising that two of the major topics of discussion during the conference will be EHR adoption and meaningful use requirements. The meeting will include five education sessions that will focus on these aspects of health IT. The IT experts attending the conference should mark these sessions on their calendars to ensure that they are in tune with the latest news and ideas.
The first session will focus on EHRs and their roll in clinical research. The HIMSS15 schedule has the e-session set to take place on Monday, April 13, and outlines its main goals, which include educating members of the clinical research sector on how to accurately use their EHR systems to improve clinical trials and patient care. The meeting will also call attention to the advantages and difficulties that come as a result of EHR implementation in the clinical research industry. The speakers in the meeting will discuss how to effectively face these challenges and capitalize on the benefits of EHRs.
There will also be a session focused on adult learning theory during EHR training that starts April 12 and continues through April 16. Speakers and attendees will talk about how to evaluate tools assessing adult theory content, which is particularly essential as the number of providers adopting EHR systems quickly continues to climb. Practices are also increasingly focused on upgrading or replacing old systems with newer, more advanced EHRs. Participants will learn the ins and outs of developing efficient EHR training programs and how to revise them so that they include adult learning principles.
Health IT professionals who are interested in learning more about best practices for EHR-based performance measures should attend the session that takes place on April 14. It will cover the hardships and the potential success that providers will find while attempting to create EHR performance measures. The discussion will include the most effective strategies for developing EHR-based measures that can easily be integrated and clinically valuable.
Sessions for patient engagement and virtual care education
The patient portal is another popular topic for many of the sessions to take place at the conference. Effectively creating and promoting patient portals is essential, as the stage 2 meaningful use requirements make providers more reliant on how their patients view their health data and interact with their doctors. There will be a session for all of the providers who may not know the most efficient way to get their patients to use the portal. According to HIMSS, there will be health IT experts present to talk about key strategies for increasing use of the patient portal and enhancing patient engagement.
Another session will feature the 2014 Davies Enterprise Award of Excellence winner, Marina Salud Hospital from Denia, Spain. The hospital was successful at adopting and implementing care plans enabled by the facility's EHR systems. It also created virtual appointment visits as forms of follow-up care. As a result, the number of hospitalizations and readmission rates declined significantly. Providers from the hospital will engage in discussions centered on how to create these improvements through EHR systems.
