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What's New

Social Security Applicants to ‘Sign’ Authorization Electronically
Beginning in April, many people applying for Social Security disability benefits will be able to sign and submit the Authorization to Disclose Information to Social Security (Form SSA-827) form electronically, as the last part of the online process. Click the link above to learn how this will work for applicants and providers…

New York and New Jersey Chapter Member Wins January Spirit of HIMSS Award
Tony Ferrante, Director of Business Development for Computer Design & Integration LLC, Teterboro, NJ, is the recipient of the January Spirit of HIMSS Award. Ferrante has been an invaluable member on the New Jersey HIMSS and New York HIMSS Chapter boards. He is an integral part of the educational programming, as well the promotion of the CPHIMS credential, and the CPHIMS review course. Ferrante is invaluable to both chapters and is known as the engine that moves them down the track. Established in 2003, the Spirit of HIMSS Award recognizes members who exemplify the mission of HIMSS through their recent volunteer efforts within the society. HIMSS utilizes awards to recognize the special contributions of individuals, groups and organizations to the advancement of the healthcare profession as encompassed by the HIMSS mission. These special contributions may vary widely due to the diverse membership of HIMSS and the broad definition of the healthcare professions represented in our mission. Nominate a peer today. Contact Megan McGuirk, Program Manager, Professional Development, with questions.

Submit Your Mobile Health Case Study
mHIMSS is seeking written material on emerging practices and independent research for review and subsequent publication via the mHIMSS website. Studies should clearly demonstrate the use of mobile or wireless technology with regards to the delivery of healthcare in varied settings. Submissions should include an introduction, methodology/lessons learned/best practices section, results/data analysis section and conclusion. Case studies will be reviewed by subject-matter experts with diverse backgrounds. To learn more or to submit a paper, click the link above.

HIMSS to Launch Three New Committees
New for FY13, HIMSS will be launching three new Committees focused on eConnecting with Consumers, Clinical & Business Intelligence and Interoperability and Standards. The creation of these Committees, as approved by the HIMSS Board of Directors, is based on the current need of the industry and HIMSS members. The HIMSS annual call for Committee applications is open through March 2. To learn more about the eConnecting with Consumer and Clinical & Business Intelligence Committees, contact Mary Griskewicz, Senior Director HIS. For more on the Interoperability and Standards Committee, contact James St. Clair, Senior Director Interoperability & Standards. To apply to a HIMSS Committee please go to HIMSS Committee Membership Application at the link above.

Tools & Resources

HIMSS eLearning Academy—Your Online Home for the Latest Health IT Training and Education
From emerging professionals to senior executives, HIMSS offers the health IT training and education you need to further your professional development and advance your career. The eLearning Academy is your online source for on-demand access to HIMSS conference sessions, Virtual Events, Professional Development webinars and other learning tools. For more in-depth learning, HIMSS offers a variety of health IT training courses designed to provide a comprehensive look at a subject or topic, or a detailed exploration of a specific aspect of a system or process. Join esteemed experts from across the industry anytime, anywhere and share in the collective wisdom of professionals working together to make healthcare stronger.

• More than 60 complimentary, archived webinars for HIMSS members.
• 700+ recorded sessions.
• 16 Health IT training courses for in-depth learning.

The eLearning Academy is great way to earn physician and nursing continuing education credits as well as CPHIMS contact hours, CHCIO CEUs, and Project Manager PDUs. Please refer to an item’s details for eligibility, or visit Continuing Education. For a limited time, get 10% off any eLearning product (enter discount code: 8MN2CHQ1).

Two Good Informatics Practice (GIP) Guidances for the Life Sciences Industry now available: (1) Security Module, and (2) Validation and Verification!
Good Informatics Practices (GIPs) are guidance methods and processes of aligning IT and Informatics functions that support Life and Health Science organizations with the strategic, commercial and regulatory goals of the business. In addition to being a guidance that refers to applicable regulations, best practices, and industry standards, GIP enables companies and regulatory agencies to have a common reference of trusted IT methodologies, framework, and language directly associated with mitigating risk to public health. The GIP Modules provide an understanding of best practices, along with pragmatic tools and examples Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to assist Life and Health Science organizations in effectively and efficiently planning, implementing and operating computer systems and equipment within regulatory expectations. The Security GIP Module topics related to security include the assessment of business objectives to ascertain the need for security, implementation of effective security controls, and the management and operation of IT infrastructure systems in a manner that maintains Confidentiality, Integrity, and Availability (CIA). The Validation and Verification (V&V) GIP Module offers concepts and methods for organizations to scale the rigor and level of detail based on their business, regulatory, and safety risks. Organizations whose business scope is within the molecule-to-patient lifecycle will be able to make use of these V&V best practices and concept materials, and to incorporate them as part of their overall quality program and processes. For more information about GIP, please visit the HIMSS Life Sciences Information Technology page. To obtain a copy of this module, please visit the eLearning Academy GIP Guidance section of the Education Catalogue.

Sponsored White Paper: What Healthcare Organizations Should Look for in a Recruitment Technology
Tired of looking at that pile of paper resumes on your desk? Are you thinking, "There has to be an easier way to go through these resumes to find the talent I need for my organization"? The following webinar discusses how a recruitment technology can help you streamline and optimize your hiring processes. We also had Baptist Memorial Healthcare's Director of Talent Acquisitions as a guest speaker, who discussed how iCIMS helped her organization.

Sponsored White Paper: OpenText Social Communities: Paving the road towards a more social business
A social business is one that weaves a social fabric into all of its business processes to help build stronger connections between its customers, partners, stakeholders, and employees, while increasing purpose-driven communications. Learn how OpenText Social Communities can help "socialize" your business processes through encouraging more efficient knowledge sharing and collaboration and creating more engaging customer experiences.

Sponsored White Paper: Log Management & Compliance Best Practices: Healthcare Industry Sector
To protect and secure electronic protected health information or patient records, you need to know who is accessing which systems and data, and what users are doing at all times. Records of all events taking place in your environment are being logged right now into event logs, W3C logs or Syslog files across your servers, workstations and networking devices. Think about it log files contain complete audit trails of access, additions, deletions or manipulation of key information (i.e., employee records, patient health data, etc.).

Sponsored White Paper: What Healthcare Organizations Should Look for in a Recruitment Technology
Tired of looking at that pile of paper resumes on your desk? Are you thinking, "There has to be an easier way to go through these resumes to find the talent I need for my organization"? The following webinar discusses how a recruitment technology can help you streamline and optimize your hiring processes. We also had Baptist Memorial Healthcare's Director of Talent Acquisitions as a guest speaker, who discussed how iCIMS helped her organization.

Sponsored White Paper: OpenText Social Communities—Paving the Road Toward a More Social Business
A social business is one that weaves a social fabric into all of its business processes to help build stronger connections between its customers, partners, stakeholders, and employees, while increasing purpose-driven communications. Learn how OpenText Social Communities can help "socialize" your business processes through encouraging more efficient knowledge sharing and collaboration and creating more engaging customer experiences.

Sponsored White Paper: 9 EHR Usability Mistakes Your Team is Probably Making (And How to Fix Them)
Ninety percent of physicians are concerned about the usability of their EHR systems. Yet most vendors say they already put careful thought into their software design, leaving them wondering what more they can improve. This paper reveals 9 of the most common mistakes software teams make when it comes to usability, often without even realizing it. Learn these before you start preparing for meaningful use phase 2!

Sponsored White Paper: An Approach to the ICD-10 Transition
Southwest General Healthcare Center (SGHC) enterprise is a private, not for profit organization. It consists of a 354 bed acute care facility located in Middleburg Heights, OH, approximately 30 employed physicians, 2 urgent care centers and a home health care/infusion company. SGHC will present how they are actively approaching the transition to ICD-10. Topics will include Executive Leadership, Planning and Implementation Analysis, Timeline, Prioritization, Functional Area Assessments and ICD-9 to ICD-10 Data Translation and Analysis. A prototype of a proprietary tool for translation and analysis will be demonstrated by RSM McGladrey. RSM McGladrey, Inc. and McGladrey & Pullen, LLP considered together as McGladrey, is the fifth largest accounting and professional services firm in the United States (in terms of revenue, source Accounting Today 2010) with a national industry healthcare practice staffed by more than 300 personnel across national offices.

Sponsored White Paper: Maximizing Healthcare Payment Automation
More than half of the transactions within the US healthcare industry are still paper-based. In addition, there is a processing lag if the payment is paper and the remittance is electronic. Several major challenges plague the healthcare industry’s quest to automate the payments process, and many healthcare providers, billing companies, and banks serving healthcare providers undertake a costly, time-consuming journey to achieve full healthcare payment automation. This session explores the barriers to full healthcare payment process automation and a cost-effective, simple solution for overcoming the barriers.

Sponsored White Paper: Nine Things to Ask Your SAAS Vendor Before Entering the Cloud
This whitepaper provides tips based on best practices gathered through analysis of the industry and direct experience with thousands of cloud deployments—including tips from CIOs, program and project managers, directors of IT, engineers, developers and administrators in various industries and various size companies.

Calling All Members

The Life Sciences and Information Technology Committee is Now Accepting Membership Applications
The HIMSS annual call for Committee applications is open through March 2. As part of this call, the Life Sciences Information Technology (LSIT) Committee is accepting applications. The LSIT Committee is responsible for leading the development of the Good Informatics Practices (GIP) Guidance for the life sciences industry, which is a comprehensive body of information about regulatory requirements (GLP, GMP, GCP and Part 11), standards, best practices, case studies, employable tools such as sample documents, check lists, standard operating procedures, methodologies and specific best IT practices that support good IT governance and compliance. The Committee also engages the life sciences industry on emerging health IT policies and activities, connects the community with industry experts, and shares learning experiences and case studies through the HIMSS Life Sciences Roundtable.

HIMSS Life Sciences Roundtable is accepting new members
The HIMSS Life Sciences Roundtable is accepting new members. The vision of the Roundtable is to advance efforts to capture, share, aggregate, and utilize health data through health IT that will further advances in life sciences innovation resulting in improved patient care and health outcomes. The Roundtable serves to inform the life sciences industry on emerging health IT policies and activities, engage on relevant issues with industry experts, and share learning experiences and case studies. Key topics for the year include comparative effective research, interoperability of research databases for data analytics, personalized medicine, HIT and clinical trials (data analytics, Integration of EHRs and EDC systems), and health regulatory affairs issues impacting the Life Sciences sector. The Roundtable meets monthly, via conference call, on the third Wednesday from 11am to 12pm (ET). Please visit HIMSS Life Sciences Roundtable website for additional information and contact Nancy Devlin to join the roundtable.

mHIMSS Seek Volunteers
HIMSS is seeking volunteers for the mHIMSS initiative. Mobile subject-matter experts are needed to develop deliverables that will: Strengthen available resources on key aspects of mobile health IT; inform best practices by publishing case studies and respected research regarding effective and transformative use of wireless and mobile technology; and provide timely mobile subject matter expertise to federal agencies, key regulatory and legislative bodies. Participants must be full HIMSS members in good standing. If you are not a member of HIMSS/mHIMSS and would like to join please click here. If you are currently a full HIMSS member and have an interest in joining the taskforce, please contact Tim Castallo.

HIMSS Seeks Nominations for CEO IT Achievement Award
HIMSS is seeking nominations for the annual CEO IT Achievement Award competition, co-sponsored by Modern Healthcare. The award honors one or more healthcare industry chief executive officers who demonstrate leadership and commitment to using information technology to advance their healthcare organizations’ strategic goals. CEOs from provider organizations, including hospitals, health systems, health insurers, physician groups and clinics, and post-acute-care providers are eligible for the award. CEOs from healthcare vendors and suppliers are not eligible. Entries can be submitted through March 6. A panel of CEOs and CIOs will judge the competition. For more information, contact Robin Loth or Megan McGuirk. To apply for the award, click the link above>>

HIMSS Davies Award of Excellence: New Categories, Criteria and Application Process
The HIMSS Davies Award has evolved…Application process is as easy as 1..2..3..4! The new application process is based on a case-study format, so tell us your story of EHR success. There are three award categories with new criteria for each. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. For more information, contact Jonathan French. You can also click the link above>>

Stories of Success! Program Announces New All Call for Case Studies
HIMSS, with co-sponsors American Society for Quality (ASQ), National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF), announce a new call for the Stories of Success! case study program.   This program showcases outstanding accomplishments in the adoption and use of health IT to fulfill national priorities recommended by the National Priorities Partnership (NPP) and The Joint Commission’s National Patient Safety Goals (NPSG). To get started, go to the Stories of Success! web page and complete the questions on the Case Study Application Form.   All case studies must be submitted to Patricia Johnson by March 16, 2012. 

Ambulatory Behavioral Health for Underserved Communities Work Group Seeks New Members
This work group will develop resources and tools on the adoption and use of IT for the behavioral health community. The work group will meet on the fourth Tuesday of the month at 1 p.m. (ET) via WebEx and is Chaired by Steve Ruth, HIT Consultant, SMC Partners, LLC. Participation is open to HIMSS members in good standing. For more information, please contact Valerie Knoke at the e-mail link above…

HIMSS CPOE Wiki Work Group Seek Members
The HIMSS CPOE Wiki Work Group, part of the Enterprise Information Systems Committee, was formed to collaborate on the construction of a toolkit to assist health systems with CPOE adoption in their hospital and ambulatory settings. The work group intends to build upon the HIMSS CPOE Wiki which incorporated foundational material last year. The work group seeks volunteers with interest in CPOE to author content per HIMSS standards. We also welcome graduate students in healthcare informatics to participate and potentially fulfill academic/internship requirements as student volunteers. Topic materials to be developed include clinical governance; policies and procedures; clinical content; communication and marketing; training; and planning for go-live. Vinod Aggarwal is chairing the CPOE Wiki Work Group and the next meeting is on Jan. 13, 2012 at 12.30 p.m. (ET). Please communicate your interest in participating to Juanita Threat, HIMSS Staff Liaison, at the e-mail link above. Please include your affiliation, title and contact information, as well as your area of interest/expertise from the topic list above.

HIMSS Patient-Centered Payer Roundtable Is Accepting New Members
The HIMSS Patient-Centered Payer Roundtable is accepting new members. The vision of the Roundtable is to improve individual patient care, quality, and outcomes in a cost-effective manner by fostering collaboration and trust between providers, payers and vendors through the development of interoperable health IT. The Roundtable serves to provide a vehicle for these and other stakeholders to exchange ideas and dialogue on emerging health IT issues and opportunities. The Roundtable continues to engage on relevant issues with industry experts, and share learning experiences and case studies. Key topics for the year include accountable care/value-based healthcare/care coordination, and “enabling” issues such as HIE, interoperability, funding models, data management, business intelligence, and patient identity. The Roundtable meets monthly, via conference call, on the third Thursday from 4 p.m. to 5 p.m. (ET). Please visit HIMSS Patient-Centered Payer Roundtable website for additional information and contact Nancy Devlin to become a member.

© 2012 Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society
The inclusion of an organization name, product or service in this publication should not be construed
as a HIMSS endorsement of such organization, product or service, nor is the failure to include an
organization name, product or service to be construed as disapproval.