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Chris Nerney

Chris Nerney
By Chris Nerney | 09:02 am | January 16, 2017
The show floor exhibit will focus on IoT, telemedicine, remote patient monitoring and next generation technologies. 
By Chris Nerney | 08:14 am | January 12, 2017
Amid the evolving threat landscape healthcare organizations face today, HIMSS said the command center to empower professionals and instill them with optimism, where applicable.
By Chris Nerney | 08:07 am | January 09, 2017
Mayo Clinic IT managers suggest identifying practical solutions, then instituting governance and change management policies around identity management. 
By Chris Nerney | 10:47 am | January 04, 2017
The health system said IG enables providers to deliver better care and improve patient engagement while also controlling costs and claims denials. 
By Chris Nerney | 08:24 am | December 27, 2016
It’s personal for Kathryn Pearson Peyton. But the interoperability upside to storing breast cancer images in the cloud could be a boon to earlier detection and reducing unnecessary imaging. 
By Chris Nerney | 08:12 am | December 21, 2016
Delphine Tuot, director of the Center for Innovation in Access and Quality at the University of California, San Francisco, on three different eCR models and lessons learned from implementing and evaluating such systems. 
By Chris Nerney | 09:35 pm | February 23, 2016
Healthcare innovation across the United States is being powered by a number of factors – including technology, legislation and the move toward value-based reimbursement – but the engine driving that transformation is data. Not only can data be collected and stored to an extent that wasn’t possible several years ago, it also can be analyzed to uncover population health trends, improve efficiency, reduce costs and deliver better care to patients. See all of our HIMSS16 previews “The starting point is having robust healthcare data from every ZIP code,” said Maureen Sullivan, chief strategy officer for Blue Cross Blue Shield Association. “We are already using this data to help improve healthcare, and we can learn from those efforts.” Sullivan will share examples of how Blue Cross Blue Shield companies are using data to help employers, providers and individuals in a session titled “The Power of Data to Transform Healthcare” at HIMSS16. BCBSA is a national federation of 36 independent, community-based and locally operated Blue Cross and Blue Shield companies. The Blue System is the nation's largest health insurer, covering more than 106 million people, and also is the nation’s largest single processor of Medicare claims. [Poll: What topics will define HIMSS16?] The BCBSA healthcare database is massive, combining cost information from 2.3 billion medical procedures, provider information, and patient reviews. The data provides BCBSA actionable insight on cost and quality trends, enabling it to advance care delivery, empower informed decision-making and improve the health of Americans. “At Blue Cross Blue Shield, we are committed to a data-driven healthcare system,” Sullivan said. “We have already made great strides to harness the power of healthcare data by building a comprehensive dataset and mining it for important insights and trends. Building on those assets and efforts will continue to drive the changes we need to ensure our healthcare system is sustainable.” Sullivan’s session will delve into a data analytics approach that brings value to both employers and employees, investigate solutions that enable consumers to make evidence-based decisions and show how aggregating cost data can help providers contain costs while better managing care. [Like Healthcare IT News on Facebook] “This is an exciting time in healthcare, and we have tremendous opportunities ahead,” Sullivan said. “Moving forward, we have more work to do to pull even greater insights and intelligence from healthcare data.” “The Power of Data to Transform Healthcare” will be held on Tuesday, March 1 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PST at the Sands Expo Convention Center, Palazzo E. Twitter: @SullyHIT This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.
By Chris Nerney | 08:34 pm | February 23, 2016
For hospitals and provider networks to successfully navigate the transition to value-based care, they must develop new care models that emphasize education and outreach to patients, experts say. This is particularly important in the case of patients with chronic conditions, many of whom ineffectively manage their health and medications, resulting in expensive emergency room treatment, readmissions, and unfavorable outcomes. Winona Health has been practicing outreach on a number of fronts and, in fact, was among the Office of the National Coordinator’s Beacon programs, winning a grant as a participant of the Southeast Minnesota beacon Community Project. [Also: 21 awesome photos from past HIMSS conferences] The Minnesota-based health network with more than 60 physicians and associate providers, 1,100 employees and 400 volunteers, a hospital, nursing home and two assisted-living communities, also launched an initiative called the Community Care Network. "Many of the reasons people come into the ER and have these re-hospitalizations aren’t necessarily medical," said Rachelle Schultz, president and CEO of Winona Health. "It’s often a home situation: Do they have enough food to eat? Do they have social support?" In a talk at HIMSS16 titled, "Building a Community Care Network for High-Needs Patients," Schultz will describe how Winona enlisted volunteers from a local university to act as its eyes and ears in the community, thus providing the hospital with ground-level information, an essential ingredient of effective population health management. "When we see the same patient coming back for readmission, for ED visits on some level of frequency, something’s happening that we don’t know about," Schultz said. "This initiative allows us to see what’s broken outside of our walls." Hospitalized patients are asked if they would like to take part in the program, which sends volunteers into their homes and communities. Participants range in age from 19 to 91, with an average age of 62. Most typically have multiple chronic conditions such as diabetes and COPD, while 25 percent to 30 percent have a primary diagnosis of a mental health condition. See all of our HIMSS16 previews The volunteers don’t provide clinical care; rather, they act as a partner and resource for patients, meeting them for coffee, walking them around the block, making sure they’re eating the right foods, listening to them, and suggesting small changes that will improve the patient’s health. Volunteers also use positive messaging to encourage healthy patient behavior. Winona’s population health initiative also relies on smart registries to learn where else patients may be seeking care in the area or region. In the first year of the program, Winona Health achieved an 85 percent to 95 percent decrease in readmissions and preventable visits, saving more than $250,000. But Schultz said the initiative isn’t about money. "We talk about patient-centered care in healthcare, but we don’t really do it," she said. "This is the most patient-centered care we could possibly provide. Based on what we’ve seen, I know we’re making a big impact in people’s lives. We’re transforming how we deliver care." Schultz said C-suite healthcare professionals attending HIMSS16 would benefit from attending her session because "if they don’t buy off on this kind of initiative, it won’t go anywhere." The session, "Building a Community Care Network for High-Needs Patients," is slated to take place Tuesday, March 1, from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. in Center Palazzo I at the Sands Expo Convention Center. Twitter: @HealthITNews This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.
By Chris Nerney | 04:41 pm | February 23, 2016
The Internet of Things is set to explode. Forecasters expect more than 6 billion objects connected to the Internet this year and some expect 50 billion by 2020. But with connectivity comes risk. For healthcare providers trying to leverage what is emerging as the IoT for healthcare – that growing universe of wearable sensors, networked devices and home monitoring systems deployed to collect medical data and even treat patients – ineffective cybersecurity can have potentially dangerous consequences. See all of our HIMSS16 previews “The Internet of Things is different from the Internet of Things for healthcare in terms of risk,” said Eric Miller, senior director of IT at Ascension Information Services. Miller pointed to a recent initiative in which white hat hackers working with the Mayo Clinic were easily able to hack into numerous connected medical devices, including an infusion pump that delivers drugs and fluids into patients. One of the hired hackers, in fact, was able to connect an infusion pump to his computer network and manipulate the dosage remotely. Miller and Paul Unbehagan, chief architect of Avaya, will discuss technologies that enable the security of connected devices and how providers can recognize and mitigate these cyber security risks during a HIMSS16 session on March 1, 2016. [Poll: What topics will define HIMSS16?] “Our goal is to show how to reduce the risk from connected medical devices in a manageable way,” Miller added. “There’s a process side to it and a technology side, and we will discuss both,” Miller said. The session will cover how providers can get a handle on the number and types of Internet of Things for healthcare devices connected to their network; how to apply risk models to device classifications in order to clarify the threat level; how to implement automation to manage the security of the growing number of connected devices; how to evaluate inventory management options against existing technologies; and how to create an implementation plan. “We want attendees to leave this session with an understanding of how to improve their risk posture for the existing Internet of Things for healthcare as well as the connected devices to come,” he said. “The Internet of Healthcare Things” will be held Tuesday, March 1, from 1 - 2 p.m. PST in the Sands Expo Convention Center Human Nature Theater. Twitter: @HealthITNews This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.
By Chris Nerney | 12:31 pm | February 23, 2016
The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act requires certain healthcare organizations dealing with protected health information to implement stringent security measures to safeguard that data. Yet executives at many healthcare organizations are in the dark – sometimes willfully – regarding how compliant their covered entities are to HIPAA privacy and security rules, according to Brand Barney, a security analyst for SecurityMetrics. Barney will be running a session at HIMSS16 in Las Vegas next week on the importance of gaining a realistic assessment of your organization’s ability to meet HIPAA compliance mandates. [Also: 8 out of 10 mobile health apps open to HIPAA violations] In his role at SecurityMetrics, Barney consults with companies and conducts audits on their data security and compliance. “What I’m seeing in the industry is a massive gap between IT professionals and executives regarding HIPAA,” he said. “Most executives believe they are HIPAA-compliant, but few really even understand what HIPAA is. They don’t know what it does for them. They say, ‘I got sold an EMR, or my attorney handles my privacy, or my IT professional covers security.’” That gap between perception and reality is where danger lies, Barney added. “Patient data is being removed from your organization and you don’t even know,” he said. “We’re not talking about credit card information; my HIPAA information has 18 identifiers, and it’s unique.” Even worse, some C-suite members are willfully ignorant about the source of data privacy and security dangers. [Also: 11 essential quotes from notable HIMSS keynotes] “There’s a lot of avoidance,” Barney said. “They don’t want to even think about insider threats. But people with privileged use levels, such as managers with access to PHIs, pose the greatest insider threat to an organization. And business associates are a major liability.” During his session Barney will explore widespread HIPAA and data security assumptions among healthcare industry executives and IT, common barriers preventing organizations from implementing crucial security improvements, and he’ll take a look at how to minimize organizational data breach probability based on vulnerabilities, threats, and risks. “HIPAA Reality Check: The Gap Between Execs and IT” is scheduled to be held on March 1 from 11:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. PST in Sands Expo Convention Center Palazzo L. Twitter: @HealthITNews This story is part of our ongoing coverage of the HIMSS16 conference. Follow our live blog for real-time updates, and visit Destination HIMSS16 for a full rundown of our reporting from the show. For a selection of some of the best social media posts of the show, visit our Trending at #HIMSS16 hub.

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