HIMSS News
HIMSS & COMCARE Announce Integrated Emergency Medical Response Initiative Advisory Board
Subject matter experts from emergency services and healthcare will take a leadership role in advancing interoperability between emergency response and health IT domains
WASHINGTON, DC – (February 5, 2008) – The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society and the COMCARE Emergency Response Alliance announced today the formation of the Integrated Emergency Medical Response Initiative Advisory Board. The 12-member board will guide the strategic plans of the COMCARE-HIMSS project to connect health information technology with emergency response applications. The creation of the Advisory Board marks an important step toward improved information sharing about victims and their care.
“The Advisory Board gives this project the diverse leadership and base of expertise required to have a revolutionary impact on how vital healthcare information will be harnessed during an emergency event,” said Pat Wise, RN, HIMSS senior vice president. “HIMSS, COMCARE, our board leadership, and our other partners will benefit from this focused expertise as we develop technology showcases and educational activities that demonstrate the benefits of integrating emergency response and health information technology.”
In 2008, the Advisory Board will be guiding the development of a technology showcase to promote the COMCARE-HIMSS Integrated Emergency Medical Response vision. The showcase will serve as a proof-of-concept demonstration of the value of linking agency-specific information technology applications and sharing patient, resource, and incident data across the participating emergency response professions. The live showcase will be converted into a persistent virtual showcase that can be viewed online using a variety of scenarios. The showcase will serve as a means for both emergency health care providers and technology vendors to evaluate the components that can contribute to an emergency patient information system for the entire continuum of care, linking private information sources, 9-1-1, EMS, hospitals, emergency management, and others.
“COMCARE and HIMSS are going to make this technology showcase a top priority,” said Jack Potter, MD, vice chair of the COMCARE Emergency Response Alliance, and director of emergency medicine at Valley Health. “We are delighted with the participation we’ve received from subject matter experts in healthcare and emergency response. They first helped us identify the need for improved information sharing of vital patient data and now, with the creation of the Advisory Board, will help us demonstrate our collaborative vision.”
The technology showcase, scheduled for a 2008 launch, will demonstrate an interoperable system based on the functional and technical requirements that responders and other stakeholders identified at the National Patient Tracking Summit COMCARE organized in 2005. Using the showcase as a real-world example, experts and stakeholders will once again be convened to re-evaluate and comment on the effectiveness of these requirements. The third step will be to identify one or more places to carry out field tests of the Integrated Emergency Medical Response process. Throughout this process, the educational focus will be on the necessary technology components needed to facilitate this vision, the gaps in the current system of communication, and the safety and economic benefits of a chain of emergency medical information exchange.
“Once community leaders and emergency professionals see the life-saving benefits of a chain of informed emergency response communications in a tangible form,” said Dr. Potter, “we’re confident they will want to support this vision.”
A list of Advisory Board members is attached. For information about this initiative, contact Amy DuBrueler at adubruler@comcare.org or David Collins at dcollins@himss.org.
Amy E. Belflower, MSPH
Public Health Coordinator and Epidemiologist
Pitt County Health Department
Matt D’Ambrosia
President & CEO
Vital Data Technology
Martin Fisher
Vice President, Information Technology
MedicAlert Foundation
Michael Gonzalez, MD
VCU Health System/Medical College of Virginia Hospitals
Cindy Hearrell RN, BA, CEN
Trauma Prevention/Process Improvement Coordinator
Mary Washington Hospital
Helen Hill
Director, IT Consulting
Henry Ford Health System, Covansys
Chair
Southeast Michigan Health Information Exchange (SEMHIE) Initial Governance Committee
Captain Brian Hricik, EMT-P
EMS Supervisor
Alexandria Fire/EMS
Mark Jacobs
Director of Technology Services
Wellspan Health
Rick Jones
Operations Issues Director
National Emergency Number Association
Peter Letarte MD, FACS
Head of Neurosurgery
Loyola University Health System
Denni McColm
Chief Information Officer
Citizens Memorial Healthcare
Erik Pupo
Senior Enterprise Architect
Vangent, Inc.
About COMCARE
COMCARE is a non-profit national advocacy organization of over 100 members, all dedicated to advancing emergency response. To be effective, responders and others involved in emergency response efforts need easy, rapid access to essential data, and to be able to share it. That means implementing an approach that crosses domains, allowing responders to access the information they need when they need it, whether the emergency is a day to day or mass casualty incident. www.comcare.org
