Health IT

#HIMSS16 Day 4 Buzz: Let’s rank the big issues discussed at HIMSS

Also, getting real on HIMSS16 turnout, a hard look at medical scribes and Mitt Romney makes an appearance.

By Chris Seper on March 03, 2016

HIMSS16

There’s still plenty of HIMSS16 to go. But there’s definitely some conversations that have dominated more than others. Here’s my ranking of biggest discussions (I wonder if it matches your list).

  1. Interoperability
  2. Interoperability
  3. Interoperability
  4. Population health
  5. Data transparency
  6. Cybersecurity

I also thought the Federal Times did a nice job highlighting the big takeaways from the “ONC’s day” at HIMSS16: Certification rule; new grant programs; regulations vs. innovation; privacy and interoperability; and patient-generated health data.

Bottom line: HIMSS overhypes attendance

Word ahead of HIMSS16 was that this would be the biggest HIMSS ever. We heard numbers as high as 50,000 attendees. In fact, it looks like attendance will be lower than last year’s 43,000+ turnout. Why the turnout is followed so obsessively is beyond me (maybe it’s the excuse to force everyone into Orlando so often?). Any way you slice it HIMSS is the health IT conference.

Revenge of the nerds: A medical scribes purge?

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There’s been rumblings about the growth of medical scribes. But HIMSS came at them with both guns blazing.

“Medical Scribes are unlicensed, unregulated and little trained individuals who are a third party being inserted between the physicians and the medical record,” said Dr. George Gellert, regional informatics medical officer at CHRISTUS Health.

Later on, the article concedes the real reasons for medical scribes: doctors are luddites and EMRs are still a logistical pain in the butt.

Not surprisingly, the solution at HIMSS is to hold vendors “feet to the fire” to make better EHRs (in other words: keep spending on tech workarounds and not human ones).

Here were the big messages on cybersecurity on Wednesday

There are threats everywhere and no one is to blame (yet).

Other headlines of note:

  • Mitt Romney: Any Republican candidate would reform healthcare with tax credits – Healthcare IT News
  • CMIOs share what brought them to Vegas – CMIO
  • Survey: Care Coordination Biggest Challenge to Achieve Population Health Management – HIT Consultant
  • Accenture study: Patients more engaged, willing to share data with doctors – Healthcare IT News
  • 52% of US hospitals use 3 or more connected health technologies, HIMSS study finds – Healthcare IT News
  • StayWell and ShareWIK Present “Health Entertainment,” a New Category of Patient Engagement, at HIMSS – PR Web

More on #HIMSS16 on #HCSM

Photo: @healthcarewen

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