For those of you unfamiliar with HIMSS, it stands for Health Information Management Systems Society. This health IT conference was held in Orlando last week and over 31,000 people attended with 1,000 vendors. It was a great opportunity to catch a glimpse of the future of healthcare. There was a lot of discussion around the Patient Centered Medical Home, the Accountable Care Organizations, electronic medical records, how technology can enhance chronic care management and how savvy patients are becoming using the internet. The key note addresses were incredibly interesting. On Wednesday we were addressed by Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius. You can read her entire speech at: http://www.hhs.gov/secretary/about/speeches/sp20110223.html
Finally, we need to make sure that the adoption of health IT doesn’t contribute to another gap in our health care system: the racial, geographic, and socioeconomic disparities in care that unfortunately are far too common in our country. We need vendors to develop, sell and support products that clinicians who serve our most vulnerable populations can afford and use. It’s unacceptable for this powerful new health tool to serve some Americans better than others.
Here at HIMSS, we can get a glimpse of a future in which electronic health records are fully integrated into our health care system. We could have ambulances equipped with hand-held computers that EMTs use to update a health record that ER clinicians can read even before the patient arrives. We could have mobile applications that remind patients to take their medicines, check their blood sugar, or get their preventive tests – and then send an update right back to their doctor or nurse’s computer.
Although I am new to the health IT field, it is clear that chronic disease management is a key focus area. As diabetes educators it may be helpful to learn how technology can support our patients and improve their outcomes and quality of life.
Our final morning ended with a motivating speech by Michael J Fox, describing his transition from a healthy unknown actor to his present role as leader in the field of Parkinson's disease research funding. Fox is an example of an empowered patient making a difference in the health community and an inspiration to everyone.
You can read more about HIMSS at the following website:
http://www.himss.org/ASP/index.asp and if you are interested in keeping updated, you can subscribe to their newsletter http://www.healthcareitnews.com/
Patient Centered Medical Home, ACO's, technology and other emerging issues will be addressed at the AADE annual meeting in Las Vegas in August and will be ont he forefront of many agendas for the foreseeable future. Jumping on board now and learning from the beginning seems like a good opportunity! I am looking forward to seeing many of you in Las Vegas!