Throughout the past few months, Stoltenberg leadership has had the opportunity to attend several health IT conferences, including CHIME Fall Forum, Midwest HIMSS Conference, New York eHealth Digital Health Conference, and several smaller regional HIMSS events. During its appearances, Stoltenberg representatives exhibited, held focus groups, attended sessions and keynote speakers, and even presented their own take on topics like help desk services and smart data.
At the CHIME Fall Forum, "Surviving the economic downturn" stood out as a popular session, as it discussed applying data analytics to HIT department finances to take the emotion and stress out of budgeting. Another major highlight was words from Farzad Mostashari, just days after leaving his post as the National Coordinator for Health IT at the ONC. Mostashari shared some experiences of his time at the ONC, the impact of budget issues and the government shutdown on HIT, and thoughts on the timetable of Stage 2 meaningful use.
Fast-forward a few weeks later, Stoltenberg attended and exhibited at the Midwest HIMSS Conference. Hot topics of the conference included preventative care and mobile health, aiming to link wellness coaching with technology to impact lifestyle choices. Sessions showed how mobile health continues to link patients and healthcare providers with more capability of diagnosis, treatment, and education through methods of interactive patient apps in the form of mini games and more.
Finally, at the New York eHealth Collaborative Digital Health Conference, major interest points included the importance of interoperability standards on Health IT innovation, patient engagement and the value of empowering consumers, as well as the power of data. Within their keynotes, Chairman of Kaiser Permanente George Halvorson and National Director of Organizing for Action Jim Messina both discussed the power of data to transform the U.S. healthcare system. Halvorson specifically touched on how HIT and real-time data has dramatically improved quality of care and reduced costs at Kaiser.
Throughout each of these and future conferences, we're thankful to gain industry insight and inspiration to impact our own thought leadership, as well as how we constantly push to best aid our client hospitals.
