Three Resources for Small Practices at HIMSS15

If you are attending the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference in Chicago as a member of a solo or small medical practice, here's some advice on what to see from an event veteran.  A HIMSS fellow who attended his first conference in 2003, Michael Zaroukian, MD, PhD, vice president and chief medical information officer of Michigan-based Sparrow Health System, offers the following three "must sees" for solo and small practice attendees:

• Poster sessions
Emerging professionals, nurses, and physicians offer peer-reviewed research on a wide range of issues facing medical practices.

"It's really helpful to see if there's a practice that matches what they did, and how they did it," says Zaroukian.

More information at: http://www.himssconference.org/education/poster-sessions

• HIMSS Interoperability Showcase
Located in the South Building, Hall A, Booth 2084, attendees have the ability to view more than 100 live clinical information systems demonstrating a variety of care settings aimed at delivering clinical information to the right member of the care team at the right time.  There will also be an "education theater," sharing interoperability success stories.

"This will give attendees the ability to see how different vendors have put things together to talk to each other [via their technology] for efficiency," says Zaroukian.

More information at: http://www.himssconference.org/exhibition/HIMSS-interoperability-showcase

• Health IT Value Suite
Making its debut at the HIMSS Conference (located in the South Building, Hall A, Booth 4891), attendees can meet with HIMSS Davies Award winners who have demonstrated proven benefits of health IT within the five HIMSS Health IT Value STEPS: satisfaction; treatment; electronic information/data; prevention and patient education; and savings. The suite will host more than 25 sessions to meet and hear from providers and vendors making the most out of health IT solutions.

"This new display area will allow attendees to see how people have used these systems to truly demonstrate value, whether that is financial, patient satisfaction, safety, etc.," says Zaroukian.

More information at: http://www.himssconference.org/exhibition/health-it-value-suite