Organizers of the 25th annual Toward an Electronic Patient Record (TEPR) conference and exhibition, scheduled for Feb. 1-5 in Palm Springs, Calif., are hoping a little punctuation will point the event in a new and more compelling direction.
The conference, hosted by the Boston-based MRI Institute, has added a "+" to its name and taken advantage of a schedule change for the Health Information and Management Systems Society's (HIMSS) annual show and exhibition, which will be held in Chicago in April. As a result, TEPR+ will precede HIMSS09 this year.
"We will set the tone for the whole year," said C. Peter Waegemann, the MRI Institute's CEO and the driving force behind TEPR+. "People will hear what is going to happen in 2009."
Created initially as a means of advancing electronic medical records in healthcare, TEPR has struggled in recent years to maintain momentum and relevance. Last year the conference, held in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., drew less than 2,000 attendees but launched a successful year-long project to prove the accessibility of medical records on cellphones and other wireless devices.
Waegemann expects the portable platform afforded by 
cellphones and other PDAs to take center stage again this year.
"The cellphone is no longer a forbidden item in the hospital," he said. "It's grown past its embryonic stage, and we'll be exploring new applications this year," such as disease management, documentation, clinical guidelines, telemedicine and financial services.
Other areas to be featured include the patient-centered medical home and the impact of the consumer on the traditional healthcare model.
Waegemann says the nation's current economic turmoil is having an effect on shows like TEPR. While he hopes attendance from healthcare providers increases, he's expecting fewer exhibits on the show floor. In addition, the show's format will be reduced from 26 pullout sessions to about 10.
Scheduled sessions include an opening keynote speech by Joseph Heyman, chairman of the American Medical Association's board of trustees; a discussion of practice models with David C. Kibbe, senior advisor to the American Academy of Family Physicians; and a two-day-long program on the patient-centered medical home with Jim May, CEO of CINA. In addition, the exhibit hall will include featured vendors Google and Microsoft and EMRCompare, a show-and-tell section for EMR vendors
