Last week, March 1-4, 2010, Atlanta, Georgia was host to the largest healthcare IT conference and exhibition,  HIMSS10, organized by the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS). According to HIMSS site, the event attracted more than 27,000 attendees from around the world. The event pretty much dominated downtown Atlanta, particularly areas surrounding Georgia World Congress Center (GWCC). It was a week of learning, gathering knowledge and networking with an industry that is a subject of a heated debate from the government to the general public. Healthcare Information Technology (HIT or HCIT) no doubt will play a vital role in the solution of that debate.

There are many challenges facing  HIT: more usefulness (MU), regulations, certifications, to name a few. Fraud within the industry is a major challenge since IT will be the first sector that will be hounded on when an investigation is underway. A good write-up by Gienna Shaw of HealthLeaders Meadia on fighting medicare fraud can be found here.

No doubt, healthcare industry will see major IT transformation, inspite of known challenges and resistance – a comparison with the banking industry is most apt for the latter. A few sites I found useful – insights from health industry expert are listed below. There are many more and I’ll add them as I continue my research.

- John D Halamka, MD, his take on MU and HIMSS10

- Harry Greenspun, MD, providing strategic leadership with a clinical perspective. He also talks about 2010 hospital budgets from a CIO perspective here.

- Kevinmd.com. An insight from a physician on Electronic Medical Record (EMR) can be read here.

- Better Health, a health commentary by a network of popular health bloggers, consisting of doctors and/or healthcare professionals. technologists

- HIMSS is a good resource.

- HealthLeaders Media, multi-platform media company dedicated to meeting the business information needs of healthcare executives and professionals.

Apart from the stimulus incentive that many in the IT sector are no doubt drawn to HIT, providing viable solutions for the healthcare industry is the key. Often times technology are focused on capabilities rather than the need of the industry, MU seem to be dominant in healtcare. Regardless, healthcare is a complex industry with mandatory massive government regulations and certifications for IT providers.

Overhauling an industry that is massive and intricately involve lives that demand privacy, accuracy, security, precision is not a small task. But, it can be done – with expertise, cutting-edge technology, collaboration.

This entry was posted on Saturday, March 13th, 2010 at 2:49 pm and is filed under Healthcare, Technology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.