Post Blog Post April 6, 2023 14 notable sessions to attend at HIMSS 2023 HIMSS 2023 is fast approaching, and as always, this year’s agenda features an impressive array of in-depth sessions that explore various aspects of digital health and healthcare technology, which are poised to transform the future of healthcare. We are eager to learn from industry experts as they share their insights and breakthroughs in data interoperability, a critical component in fostering a more efficient and interconnected healthcare ecosystem. Additionally, we anticipate hearing about the latest advancements in decentralized clinical trials and the remarkable potential of AI to revolutionize personalized medicine and data-driven decision-making. As a health technology company committed to driving innovation through the aggregation, cleansing, and standardization of data for numerous advanced applications, we’ve highlighted the sessions we’re particularly excited to attend at HIMSS 2023: Untangling the complexity of admin processes with interconnection Tuesday, April 18 at 11:00 AM – 12:15 PM CT In this session, attendees will learn about the benefits of payers and providers collaborating to streamline business processes. This innovative network developed by industry leaders leverages FHIR standards, decentralized networks, and cutting-edge technologies to enhance connections and collaboration, resulting in more efficient administrative processes and improved patient/member experiences. Moderator: Mary Butler-Everson, SVP, Commercial Growth at Avaneer Health Speakers: Atul Apte, Staff Vice President Technology, Carelon Digital Platforms at Carelon/Elevance Health, Mark Treshock, Executive Director of Emerging Technology at CVS Health, and Thomas Walsh, Head of Innovation at PNC How provider-payer collaboration maximizes value-based performance reporting Tuesday, April 18 at 12:00 PM – 1:00 PM CT This session will delve into the HL7® Da Vinci Project, a collaborative effort aimed at accelerating the adoption of HL7 FHIR® for value-based care (VBC) data exchange in real time. The presentation will focus on the project’s latest use case, which seeks to develop an HL7 FHIR Implementation Guide to support value-based performance reporting for quality and risk contracts, addressing challenges such as reporting format standardization and data reconciliation. Attendees will gain insights into the development, scope, and progress of the use case, as well as how to leverage the HL7 Da Vinci project Implementation Guides for improved reporting. Speakers: Semira Singh, Director of Population Health Informatics at Providence, and Teresa Younkin, Co-Lead of HL7 Da Vinci Project PMO and Senior Consultant at Point-of-Care Partners. Implementing an AI NLP tool to address SDOH needs Tuesday, April 18 at 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM CT In collaboration with Linguamatics, NorthShore is developing a natural language processing (NLP) system to extract valuable insights from unstructured data, initially focusing on social determinants of health (SDOH) data. In this session, they’ll explore how—by leveraging NLP to structure SDOH data and integrate it into EMRs—care teams can more easily identify and address patients’ needs, with the pilot program targeting social workers in the Emergency Department to provide resources or care management for patients with NLP-identified SDOH needs. Speakers: Danielle Jungst, Implementation Manager, Emily Kwan, Senior Programmer Analyst, and Urmila Ravichandran, Data Scientist, all at NorthShore University HealthSystem Leveraging multi-agency interoperable data impacting quality of patient care outcomes Tuesday, April 18 at 1:30 PM – 2:30 PM CT In this panel, speakers will discuss the challenges in healthcare interoperability and a future with improved outcomes and equal access to care through industry, federal, and state systems designed with common standards. The session will examine issues related to governance, enhanced data correlation, sharing standards, network and data interoperability, and privacy protection, aiming to foster better decision-making, performance, and accountability by promoting data sharing across agencies to support social equity and benefit millions of citizens. Moderator: Donald Kosiak, Chief Medical Officer at Leidos Speakers: Bobby Saxon, Deputy Director | Office of Information Technology (OIT) at Centers for Medical and Medicaid Services (CMS), Guy Kiyokawa, Assistant Secretary of Enterprise Integration at Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and Lance Scott, Director, Solution Integration at DOD AI and data interoperability: A symbiotic relationship for healthcare Tuesday, April 18 at 4:15 PM – 5:15 PM CT This session addresses the rising demand for care and the growing burden on healthcare professionals due to staff shortages. It will explore how artificial intelligence (AI) can be harnessed to improve patient outcomes and make healthcare more accessible, equitable, and affordable globally, while also discussing the barriers to clinical adoption of AI innovations. Speakers: Claire Bloomfield, Deputy Director at NHS England, Transformation Directorate, and Tina Manoharan, Vice President, Data & AI Center of Excellence at Philips. Building trust: Foundations for measuring clinical data quality Tuesday, April 18 at 4:15 PM – 5:15 PM CT This session will introduce the Data Quality Index, a novel method for ensuring the quality of data in data-driven organizations using the FHIR format. By utilizing a machine-learning based approach, the Index aims to measure conformance, completeness, plausibility, and fitness for use, helping to build trust in double-blind interoperable health data. The discussion will include lessons from the Index’s development and feedback for future use cases, making the framework intuitive with visualizations and explainable AI principles. Speakers: Brad Ryan, Chief Product Officer at National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA), J. Marc Overhage, Chief Medical Informatics Officer at Elevance Health, and Parker Holcomb, Chief AI Engineer at Elevance Health. Views from the top: Clinical trials readiness: Increasing speed, equity, and impact Wednesday, April 19 at 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM CT The COVID pandemic exposed major flaws in the US clinical trials infrastructure, leading to fragmented research and insufficient evidence. This session will examine strategies for conducting larger, coordinated trials more efficiently, leveraging decentralized trial designs, digital health technologies, and broader protocol dissemination. Also discussed will be the role of modern health IT infrastructure, including HL7 FHIR APIs, USCDI/USCDI+, and the potential application of TEFCA in the future. Moderator: Moderator: Brian Anderson, Chief Digital Health Physician & Co-Principal Investigator, mCODE Standard Health Record Digital Health Engineering at MITRE Decentralized clinical trials implementation approach Wednesday, April 19 at 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM CT Decentralized clinical trials (DCTs) have emerged as a crucial component of clinical research, offering a patient-centered approach by shifting trial aspects to homes or local clinics. These trials aim to reduce participant burdens and increase access to underserved communities. This session explores how Mayo Clinic has adopted a comprehensive strategy for DCT implementation, with a multidisciplinary team addressing various facets such as digital tools, data management, and operational support to enhance clinical trial processes and technologies. Speakers: Rebecca Heft, Director of Product and Platform Strategy at Mayo Clinic, Rebecca Kottschade, Director of Research Operations at Mayo Clinic, and Tufia Haddad, Medical Director of Digital Product and Platform Strategy, Center for Digital Health at Mayo Clinic Measurement and public health reporting Wednesday, April 19 at 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM CT The 2020 interoperability rules by CMS and ONC have paved the way for innovation in data exchange and FHIR® API technology, presenting opportunities to leverage standardized data and FHIR® solutions. This session will discuss CMS’s goal of transitioning to full digital quality measurement using modular FHIR® API technology and the CDC-led MedMorph initiative, which aims to automate electronic data exchange for various public health activities, reducing reporting burdens and streamlining processes across multiple use cases. Speakers: Joel Andress, EHR Lead Technical Advisor at Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), Maria Michaels, Public Health Advisor at Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and Reid Kiser, Director, Division of Quality Measurement at Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Data Wealth Management™ – How increasing data availability requires modern scalable approach to cleanse and normalize data across FHIR, HL7, CCDA, flat files, and wearables Wednesday, April 19 at 12:30 PM – 1:30 PM CT CareEvolution’s Clinical Informaticist Benjamin Berk will lead a discussion about the challenges of extracting value from the vast amounts of healthcare data generated through digitization amidst recent legislation. Attendees will learn about the importance of data conversion, standardization, and classification, as well as navigating various data management solutions and adopting a modular approach to harmonize data across systems. The session will also provide case examples illustrating improved outcomes in research, analytics, value-based care, population health, and innovative care models. Speakers: Benjamin Berk, Clinical Informaticist at CareEvolution Data for health equity: Improving maternal health outcomes through interoperability Wednesday, April 19 at 2:30 PM – 3:30 PM CT This session will explore the role of health IT solutions in addressing the US maternal health crisis, with a focus on data collection and exchange at the point of care. It will present findings from an environmental scan and analysis of available specifications for maternal health. It will also propose recommendations to fill gaps in data standards, ultimately aiming to improve care provision, coordination, and transitions in the context of enhancing maternal health outcomes. Note: Interested in learning more about studies focused on addressing maternal health outcomes? Explore Scripps’ PowerMom study powered by MyDataHelps. Speakers: Asha Immanuelle, Maternal Health Equity Program Manager at the Center for Black Women’s Wellness, Evelyn Gallego, CEO and Founder of EMI Advisors LLC, and Lenel James, Business Lead for Health Information Exchange & Innovation at Blue Cross Blue Shield Association Quantum leap in healthcare with accelerated discovery Wednesday, April 19 at 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM CT This session will discuss the potential of combining classical computing, quantum computing, and AI to address complex healthcare challenges and accelerate scientific discoveries. Attendees will learn about the Discovery Accelerator, a strategic partnership aimed at promoting innovation in healthcare delivery and research, through exploring use cases and proof-of-concept applications, such as EHR-based interventions for clinical trial diversity, investigating protein-drug interactions, and defining disease trajectories using real-world data. Speakers: Lara Jehi, Chief Research Information Officer at the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, and Ruoyi Zhou, Director of the IBM Discovery Accelerator at the Cleveland Clinic Global advancements in the international patient summary Thursday, April 20 at 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM CT The International Patient Summary (IPS) is a standard for sharing crucial health information developed through cross-SDO initiatives and supported by global digital health programs. In this session, attendees will learn about the global adoption and implementation of the IPS, including examples, visualization tools, and demonstrations of patient-mediated exchange, as well as the recently updated IPS FHIR standard and its relation to other health information standards. Speakers: John D’Amore, Technical Advisor at HL7, and Matthew Rahn, Deputy Director, Standards Division at Office of the Nationals Coordinator for Health IT. Leveraging Snowflake’s data-driven competencies to drive better health outcomes Thursday, April 20 at 11:30 AM – 12:30 PM CT Healthcare and life sciences organizations face challenges in navigating a highly regulated environment and outdated technology, which hinders their ability to improve health outcomes and cut costs. To extract value from data, these organizations must develop data-driven competencies and prioritize quick insights. This session will feature senior leaders from Elevance Health, the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, and ABACUS Insights, who will share their experiences using Snowflake to enhance data-driven competencies and ultimately improve health outcomes. Speakers: Ashok Chennuru, Global Chief Data & Analytics Officer at Elevance Health, Dr. Aaron Drew, Technical Director for the Supply Chain Management (SCM) Product Line at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs, and Minal Patel, CEO and Founder of ABACUS Insights Inc. Who is CareEvolution? CareEvolution is a healthcare technology company raising the world’s standard for health by creating tools that connect disparate parts of the system and bring dimension to healthcare data. By connecting care delivery with clinical research, and liberating siloed data to make it useful, CareEvolution empowers healthcare researchers, payers, providers, public health and builders to move at the speed of their ideas.
