13 Healthcare IT Highlights from HIMSS13

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society’s HIMSS13 conference showcased the latest healthcare IT happenings from vendors, hospital customers government agencies and nonprofit organizations. This year, roughly 35,000 attendees, plus another 14,000 exhibitors from more than 1,100 companies, made the trip to New Orleans. They heard from high-profile keynote speakers such as former President Bill Clinton, political strategists James Carville and Karl Rove and Dr. Eric Topol, a cardiologist and wireless health advocate who used the same portable device he demonstrated during his talk to diagnose a woman on his flight home with an abnormal heart rhythm. Here are 13 health IT innovations, announcements and highlights from HIMSS13.

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The Medicare and Medicaid EHR Incentive Programs provide incentive payments to hospitals and physicians that demonstrate the meaningful use of EHR technology. With stage 2 of meaningful use set to begin in 2014, it was not surprisingly a major topic at HIMSS13.

One major component of stage 2 is the collection of data on clinical quality measures. This is so physicians and hospitals can identify ways to better use health IT to improve patient safety, reduce medical errors, improve care coordination and engage patient in their own care.

One vendor looking to make its mark here is Hewlett-Packard. At HIMSS13 HP demonstrated Autonomy IDOL, which is designed to mine unstructured data to reveal patterns and relationships in clinical data.

Intel, Microsoft, and PC manufacturers were showcasing Windows 8 tablets that they say will solve the mobility, productivity and collaboration challenges people face in hospital and practice settings. Physicians and other clinicians want to use mobile devices at the point of care, but traditional mobile devices have been difficult to use effectively. Many have been heavy or couldn’t run enterprise applications. With lightweight Windows 8 tablets, physicians and nurses can effectively run enterprise-level EHR and CPOE systems without being hindered by bulky devices. Windows 8 tablets also offer all-day battery life and a variety of expansion and keyboard docking options.

More: The How-To Guide to Windows 8

The cloud-based Microsoft Office 365 offers access to familiar Office tools Word, Excel and PowerPoint. It delivers enterprise-grade email, HD videoconferencing, screen sharing and instant messaging, too. But those aren’t the only reasons healthcare organizations large and small are adopting Office 365. The package also helps hospitals and providers comply with HIPAA regulations concerning patient privacy and information security. Microsoft Office 365 for Health Organizations programmatically offers a HIPAA business associate agreement (BAA) to customers, which lets healthcare entities leverage cloud computing capabilities while managing information security. Windows Azure, Microsoft’s cloud hosting platform, also offers HIPAA BAAs.