Viewpoint

Scene: Las Vegas, Nevada, Feb. 20, 2012. Thousands descend upon the gambling Mecca and appear to be headed toward the Venetian Sands Expo Center. But who are they and why have they made this journey? Are they gambling “whales” aiming to take down the big casinos? Unlikely. Most of them appear to be WWEISA (walking while engaged in smartphone activity). While this doesn’t preclude them from being whales, it certainly doesn’t look very cool. It’s hard to imagine good poker faces coming from people who haven’t mastered the art of walking.

Several of the ladies stop outside the venue to sit down. What are they doing? It appears they are changing from flats to heels. Someone who appears to be a group elder says, “Honey, I quit doing that years ago! Just keep your flats on!”

The dialogue between the thousands is strange and acronym laden. Are they speaking in tongues? Who or what is MU? EHRs? ICD-10? ACOs? Stage 1? What is “patient-centric”? Is this “cloud” their savior?

This may very well be how we appear to the untrained eye. The layman, with no knowledge of healthcare IT and the special language we share, would undoubtedly find us bewildering. But we know why we’re here. Heck, sometimes we even understand each other! We’re in Vegas for HIMSS, the largest healthcare IT exhibition in the world … and maybe to try our luck at some poker after all.

From Feb. 20-24, the Las Vegas Venetian Sands Expo Center will play host to the Healthcare Systems and Management Society’s annual conference and exhibition, HIMSS12.

Founded in 1961, HIMSS is a not-for-profit organization on a mission to lead healthcare transformation through the effective use of health information technology (IT). Over the past half-century, the annual HIMSS conference has evolved to become the largest exhibition in the healthcare IT industry.

Most of my career prior to 2009 was spent in the newspaper business; in fact, prior to attending the HIMSS10 show in Atlanta, I was a HIMSS virgin. I was completely blown away by the sheer magnitude and spectacle. It’s big … really big, and I must confess to experiencing a bit of a sensory overload; there are bright colors, noises, booths and people – most moving quickly and purposefully in full WWEISA mode – in every direction. Vendor displays range from the simple (a small booth with a couple monitor screens) to the sublime (a two-story behemoth – complete with a dozen state-of-the-art big-screen flat panels and private meeting rooms – hauled in and built within the exhibition hall).

Having attended several tradeshows since – both big and small – there is really no comparison. Don’t get me wrong, there are many solid tradeshows in the healthcare IT space. But when it comes to the number of vendors, the volume of attendees and the level of excitement of everyone involved, HIMSS is truly matchless.

Visit us at booth 4261 to receive your game card for TECH TREK for a chance to win an iPad 2.

See you in Sin City. And remember, what happens in Vegas … will most likely be posted all over the internet.

Until next time, here’s wishing you good healthcare IT.

Enjoy the issue.

When it comes to gaining some perspective, a sense of direction and even a bit of inspiration to forge ahead in the land of American healthcare information technology (IT), it turns out we can look to our friends in the Southern Hemisphere, inhabiting the land down under The Land Down Under.

New Zealanders have long enjoyed a superior high-tech healthcare experience. In fact, according to a report recently released by New Zealand Trade and Enterprise, the use of health IT in the New Zealand primary care sector is “1.6-5.1 times greater than that of the United States in all areas, ranging from electronic access to patients’ test results to computerization of routine healthcare practices.”

“The United States can learn much from New Zealand’s decades of experience in developing and implementing electronic medical records and health IT systems and technology, which has helped make New Zealand a leader in overall quality-of-care delivery among OECD (Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development) nations,” says John D. Halamka, M.D., M.S., chief information officer of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, chief information officer at Harvard Medical School, chairman of the New England Healthcare Exchange Network (NEHEN) and one of Health Management Technology’s esteemed editorial board members.

According to the report, New Zealand and the United States share similarities in population health dynamics, population distribution between urban and rural areas, and high usage of information and communication technology. But there are differences as well; and this is where it starts looking not so good for us Americans. The per-capita cost of healthcare in New Zealand is significantly less than in the United States, with New Zealand per-capita health expenditures reported for 2008 equaling U.S. $2,683 versus U.S. $7,538 in the United States (OECD data). And sadly, that’s not a typo.

The New Zealand Trade and Enterprise report suggests that “New Zealand’s leadership in the development, implementation and uptake of health IT may play an important factor in the country’s strong healthcare performance and ranking.”

No doubt.

And check this out: According to the New Zealand Ministry of Health, by 2014, all New Zealanders will have electronic access to their own health information; and all health professionals caring for a person, no matter where they are in the country, will have secure electronic access to that person’s full health information. This means New Zealanders can be fully involved in their own healthcare, and clinicians will know a patient’s complete health history so they can provide them with the best care.

Until next time, here’s wishing you good healthcare IT. Apparently, the New Zealanders already have it.

Enjoy the issue.

 

Since I was way too young to listen to his albums and watch his films, Richard Pryor has been my favorite comedian. Despite the fact that he spoke in the patois of the street and cursed a great deal, his humor was not scatological; in fact, his comedy insights were often anecdotal in nature, and imbued with a great deal of knowledge about the human condition. It broke my heart when he was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), and we watched helplessly as he devolved from a once-vibrant, verbose slickster to a wheelchair-bound infirm who had difficulty speaking.

Thanks to healthcare IT, new findings could help shed some light on what actually causes MS – and how it may one day be cured.

Last month in a newly published paper, medical researchers at FONAR Corporation reported a diagnostic breakthrough in MS, based on observations made possible by the company’s FONAR UPRIGHT Multi-Position MRI. The findings reveal that the cause of MS may be related to earlier trauma to the neck, which can result in obstruction of the flow of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), produced and stored in the central anatomic structures of the brain known as the ventricles. Since the ventricles produce a large volume of CSF each day (500 cc), the obstruction can result in a build-up of pressure within the ventricles, resulting in leakage of the CSF into the surrounding brain tissue. This leakage could be responsible for generating the brain lesions of multiple sclerosis.

The paper, “The Possible Role of Cranio-Cervical Trauma and Abnormal CSF Hydrodynamics in the Genesis of Multiple Sclerosis,” appears in the journal Physiological Chemistry and Physics and Medical NMR (Sept. 20, 2011, 41: 1-17). It is co-authored by MRI researchers Raymond V. Damadian, who invented the MRI, and David Chu.

The disease results in the destruction of the coverings, or myelin sheaths, that insulate the nerve fibers of the brain. The destruction prevents the nerves from functioning normally and produces the symptoms of MS. The destruction is the origin of the lesions seen on the MRI images.

But, unlike nerve tissue, the myelin sheaths can regenerate – once the cause of their destruction is eliminated. The paper suggests that surgical or biomechanical remediation of the obstruction of the flow of CSF in the cervical spine could relieve the increased CSF pressure within the ventricles and eliminate the resultant leakage of fluid into the surrounding brain tissue and the inflammation of the myelin sheaths that it generates. Once the leakage has been stopped, the myelin sheaths could be repaired by the body’s myelogenesis process with the prospect of a return to normal nerve function.

As someone who suffers from a neck injury, these findings make me nervous; yet it’s because of incredible discoveries such as this that I remain cautiously optimistic about the future of healthcare IT.

Enjoy the issue.

 

The 83^rd American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) Convention and Exhibit is scheduled for Oct. 1-6 at the Salt Palace Convention Center in Salt Lake City, Utah. With a focus on “Reaching New Heights in Health Information,” the event will attract professionals from across the full and varied spectrum of health informatics and information management for a six-day-long focus on HIM’s global transformation.

The show will offer plenty of opportunity for networking, and more than 200 exhibitors are expected to show off their wares. Experts will discuss the latest developments in HITECH, EHRs, ICD-10 – and everything in between, providing a comprehensive overview of current and emerging HIM issues and challenges.

Additionally, the convention will mark the debut of new AHIMA CEO Lynne Thomas Gordon, MBA, RHIA, FACHE, who took over as chief executive of the 61,000-member organization on Sept. 29. She joins AHIMA after serving as associate vice president for hospital operations and director of the Children’s Hospital at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. She also is a member of the Rush University faculty in the graduate program in health systems management.

Convention speakers include Apolo Anton Ohno, eight-time Olympic speed-skating medalist; Dr. Peter Tippett, VP of technology and innovation, CMO, Verizon Business; Gail Collins, first woman appointed editor of the New York Times’ editorial page, New York Times syndicated opinion columnist and blogger; Dr. T.B. Üstün, team coordinator of classification, terminologies and standards, Department of Health Statistics and Informatics, World Health Organization; Carolyn Clancy, M.D., director of the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality; and Stephen M. R. Covey, bestselling author of “The Speed of Trust.”

AHIMA was founded in 1928 when the American College of Surgeons established the Association of Record Librarians of North America (ARLNA) to “elevate the standards of clinical records in hospitals and other medical institutions.”

As the industry changed, so did the organization’s name. In 1938 it became the American Association of Medical Record Librarians (AAMRL) and in 1970 the American Medical Record Association. Its current name, adopted in 1991, captures the expanded scope of clinical data beyond the single-hospital medical record to health information comprising the entire continuum of care.

AHIMA is committed to promoting and advocating for high-quality research, best practices and effective standards in health information and to actively contributing to the development and advancement of health information professionals worldwide. AHIMA’s enduring goal is “quality healthcare through quality information.”

For more information, check out www.ahima.org.

Until next time, here’s wishing you good healthcare IT.