Holistic Approach to EHR Implementation

8:15 am - 10:15 am Health, Health Technology, Meaningful Use, Disruption And Legacy Applications

This session will explore current status, trends, and possible future states across the disparate, yet inter-related spaces of health practice, health information technology, meaningful use, disruption, and legacy applications.

What will be covered:

• Synergy and parallelism between national and government programs
• Examples from current initiatives
• New approaches to longstanding challenges

How you will benefit:

• Learn how to relate these varying, yet interconnected subject matters into a holistic approach towards EHR implementation
• Become familiar with the current “future states” towards implementation

COL(Ret) Bart Harmon MD, MPH
Chief Medical Officer
Harris Healthcare Solutions

State Level Case Study: Beacon Community Grant Recipient

10:30 am - 12:30 pm Case Study Of Louisiana’s Healthcare System: Meeting Current Challenges Through Effective Health Information Technology Adoption

Louisiana – noted for expensive care and poor outcomes – for many years provided healthcare services for the under- and uninsured through state funded charity hospitals and clinics. The private sector’s contribution, funded by Medicaid, was minimal. In 2005 hurricanes Katrina and Rita severely disrupted the delivery systems in south Louisiana, providing opportunity and impetus for reform. Shortly after the storms Louisiana was offered federal funding to create health information exchange (HIE) in south Louisiana – the Louisiana Health Information Exchange (LAHIE). This effort was followed by state funding for rural hospital electronic health record (EHR) implementation and a successful HIE effort in northern Louisiana – the Louisiana Rural Health Information Exchange (LRHIX). A state-level not-for-profit entity, the Louisiana Healthcare Quality Forum (LHCQF) emerged from reform efforts. Widely representative of diverse public and private stakeholders, LHCQF provides coordination and support for provider EHR adoption and statewide HIE development. Most recently, seeking to leverage trusted relationships and HIT capabilities to improve diabetes outcomes, LAHIE participants in New Orleans received a Beacon grant.

What will be covered:

• The challenges of Louisiana’s public - private healthcare system
• Opportunities, efforts, and results from HIT adoption in Louisiana
• HIE in Louisiana – the Beacon project

Dr. Lynn R. Witherspoon
Chief Medical Information Officer, System Vice President
Ochsner Health System, New Orleans, Louisiana

Afternoon Keynote: VA/DoD Integration Site

1:30 pm - 2:30 pm VA/DoD Case Study: Naval Hospital, Pensacola, Florida

In 2008, the Joint Ambulatory Care Clinic (JACC) opened its doors in Pensacola, Florida, becoming at the time the largest VA/DoD cooperative venture in the VA healthcare system. In this session, you will hear about the critical lessons learned thus far, and learn about future benchmarks for continued integration.

CAPT Maureen O’Hara Padden, USN, MC
Executive Officer, Naval Hospital
Pensacola, Florida

Data Sharing at the Local, State, and Federal Level

2:30 pm - 3:30 pm Successful HIE Deployments Across A Spectrum Of Needs

Every Health Information Exchange has similarities but each is started with different motivations, visions, goals and objectives. This session will explore the commonalities and differences of four HIEs and how a flexible infrastructure and implementation strategy can be used to support success. In addition, the session will explore the need for Department of Defense, Veterans Administration and Indian Health Services to play an important role in the expansion and sustainability of these initiatives.

What you will learn:

• The similarities and differences between HIEs from rural to metropolitan environments
• The technological infrastructure and functionality used to support these varying clients
• The complexities of policies and procedures to support the varying models

How you will benefit:

• Avoid pitfalls associated with policy and procedure development within a boarder community
• Determine the various levels of data sharing necessary at the local, state and federal level
• Understand how DOD, VA and IHS can share in the success of existing HIEs and IDNs

John Tempesco, MHA, FACHE, FLMI
Vice President of Client Services of Informatics Corporation of America