I’m very excited about HIMSS this year.

VisionShare will be exhibiting at the conference and demonstrating some of the capabilities of our platform to support the information exchanges required by the government’s “meaningful use” criteria. In particular, we’ll show how our Secure Exchange platform may be leveraged to support clinical information exchange in both its “push” and “pull” forms, as well as our ability to support administrative transactions (which are an important, if often overlooked, element of “meaningful use”).

Of course, we’re not just going to show off our shiny new toys (though, that is a lot of fun). Our primary goal is to engage in conversations about your needs and concerns, whether you’re a healthcare provider, HIE, government agency, or fellow HIT vendor. In doing so, we hope to respond in a manner that is actually meaningful with cost-effective, workable solutions based on your needs.

So, stop by and let’s chat. We’ll be at booth #863.

Beyond VisionShare activities, I think the education sessions look good this year.

Despite what’s always a frenetic pace for me, I’ve made sure to carve out time for particularly interesting sessions. I’m especially attracted to talks about the economic sustainability (really, long-term financial viability) of health information exchange, which has been something akin to our industry’s quest for the Holy Grail (though, to date, less fun than the Monty Python version).

I’m also interested in sessions related to the future of the Nationwide Health Information Network (NHIN), as well as real-world examples of the thorny, yet important problems it seeks to address (e.g., coordination of care for our wounded warriors). Of particular note, I’m hoping to hear more about the “NHIN Direct” initiative, which was announced earlier this week. It aims to provide lightweight versions of NHIN standards and services, thereby lowering the barriers to adoption by smaller providers. As more details are to be released next week, I’ll save my color commentary for later.

Finally, I’m looking forward to the “networking” aspects of this mega conference—catching up with old colleagues and friends, as well as meeting interesting new people. Since I was in Egypt during last year’s conference, this will be my first visit to HIMSS since 2008 (in a pre-ARRA/HITECH world). Given these changes and the ongoing debate over healthcare reform, I’ll be interested in gauging how the overall vibe of HIMSS has changed (or not) and hearing what people are most excited about.

In my professional career and academic research, I’ve been fascinated by the successes and (all too often) failures associated with investments in information technology. While we’ve largely debunked Robert Solow’s famous quip that “you can see the computer age everywhere but in the productivity statistics,” I’ve never met an experienced IT professional that couldn’t regale you with one or (often) more stories about project failures of Hindenburgian proportions.

In short, failure happens.

What does this have to do with health information exchange?

One year ago today, President Obama signed into law the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009. As you probably know (unless you’re my mother, who might be reading this blog too), this economic stimulus package included provisions known as the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act, which provided massive public funding for investments in health information technology.

From my viewpoint, the tidal wave of dollars has already altered the landscape of this industry sector. It’s introduced new terms to the lexicon, such as ‘meaningful use.’ And, it has reinvigorated hope for widespread clinical information exchange, which languished for years in the doldrums of successive rounds of CHINs, RHIOs, and HIEs.

Yet, gargantuan investment alone won’t ensure ‘success.’ Remember: most dotcoms didn’t fail because they lacked capital. No matter how much we enjoyed canine sock puppet television advertisements or the promise of grocery orders being delivered via vans, the operating models of such enterprises wasn’t sustainable.

We run that same risk today in trying to push forward health information exchange. In fact, we still lack (as a profession or society) a clear definition of HIE success beyond somewhat vague notions of ‘transforming healthcare.’ And, if we look to the wisdom of crowds, consensus seems to be that ‘meaningful use’ isn’t sufficient—in and of itself—to get the job done.

Given that, how we can we really make health information exchange meaningful? 

I have a few suggested principles:

First, we should look to what I call the ‘Return on Health Information Exchange’ (RoHIE) investments. That is to say, HIE can only be ‘successful’ if the benefit it provides exceeds the cost of its delivery over the long-term.

Second, we should maximize benefits by focusing on the most valuable ‘use cases’ first. As a starting point, we should build consensus around those that are most likely to improve patient outcomes and/or reduce healthcare delivery costs. 

Third, we should expect HIT/HIE vendors to innovate in order to drive the expenses associated with health information exchange as close to zero as possible. As the product leader at VisionShare, that’s certainly one of my objectives.   

By optimizing both sides of the cost-benefit equation, we maximize the probability of ensuring that we engage in a truly ‘meaningful’ exchange of health information.

 To that end, I intend to focus my writing on…

• Health information exchange as an action verb (rather than a static noun) to better understand and explore the need and demand for such ‘exchange,’ as well as explore the workflow implications of providers.
• Use cases (rather than underlying technologies) that can transform healthcare by improving patient outcomes and lowering care delivery costs.
• Perspectives of providers and other stakeholders, including (and especially) those representative of the ‘silent majority’ rather than repeating the messages and concerns of the ‘chattering class’ of HIT pundits.
• Return on Health Information Exchange (RoHIE) – tangible methods and approaches for maximizing, assessing, and evaluating outcomes, as well as ‘case stories’ that demonstrate successes (and failures).      

One final note: I’ll always welcome your comments and feedback (favorable or not) on my views. Dialogue is the most effective means of building consensus. Besides, this blog isn’t called a ‘Meaningful Exchange’ for nothing.