8 Must-Do Sessions and Meet-Ups at HIMSS19

From APIs to policy, wearables to #WomeninHIT — Here’s what Carium is looking forward to at the 2019 HIMSS Conference

The annual HIMSS Global Conference & Exhibition, a pivotal health IT event held in Orlando in February this year, brings together over 45,000 health IT professionals, clinicians, executives, vendors, and patient advocates from around the world. With over 300 educational sessions, myriad speakers, vendor exhibits, and high-intensity networking events, going in with a plan — and comfy shoes — is critical.

With so much going on, deciding what you should attend can be overwhelming, so we combed through the schedule and curated this list to help you (and ourselves!) make the most of the HIMSS19 experience. We are especially interested in topics related to patient and consumer-oriented health, as well as tech, policy, and organizational evolution and revolution that will lead to better health of individuals and the industry as a whole.

On Carium’s behalf, Nirav Modi, Lygeia Ricciardi, Greg Weidner, and myself are attending. We hope to see you there, but if you’re not attending, follow us on Twitter for a real-time glimpse into HIMSS19.

State of the Industry: Hardwiring Patient Engagement & Experience

Monday, February 11, 9:45–10:25 am

• Geeta Nayyar — Chief Healthcare and Innovation Officer, Topline MD Health Alliance, @gnayyar
• Gregory Weidner, MD — Chief Medical Officer, Carium, @DrWeidner
• Jennifer Martin, DNP, NEA-BC, RN — Sr. Director, Carilion Clinic

This opening panel of the Patient Engagement & Experience Summit will focus on barriers to improvement, best practices and lessons learned for leveraging technology to drive success in engaging patients and providing a great experience. (And you can hear from our own Greg Weidner!)

How Consumer Technology is Revolutionizing Our Daily Lives

Tuesday, February 12 10:30–11:30 am

• Gary Shapiro — President and CEO, Consumer Technology Association, @GaryShapiro
• Harold Wolf — President & CEO, Executive, HIMSS, @HalWolfIII

Technology has made managing so many parts of our life simpler, and people are expecting the same conveniences in healthcare. In this session, Hal and Gary will chat about how doctors will rethink their practices to harness innovative health technologies, and how consumerism will change daily living and the healthcare experience. (As a long-time veteran of both HIMSS and CES, Lygeia is especially curious to hear how the world-views of leaders of both events compare.)

Wearable Device Data: Signal or Noise?

Thursday, February 14 8:30 — 9:30am

• Karl Poterack, MD — Medical Director, Applied Clinical Informatics, Mayo Clinic Hospital

According to a recent HIMSS Media report, The Role of Wearables and PGHD in the Care Delivery Continuum, 79% of provider respondents agreed that they would like to have more data about patients in between encounters, and 72% agreed that they need patient-generated health data (PGHD) to make good decisions about chronic disease management.

This session will focus on the changes in the clinician outlook and health care delivery to make use of all of the kinds of data to improve outcomes on both the individual and population levels. (One of the Carium perks is that the company buys each employee a health-related wearable or device of their choice. I just ordered my Apple watch v.4 and am personally excited about how it could impact my own health and how I interact with my doctor.)

#WomeninHIT Meetup

Tuesday, February 12th, 3:00–3:45 pm

• Geeta Nayyar — Chief Healthcare and Innovation Officer, Topline MD Health Alliance @gnayyar
• Janae Sharp — Healthcare Editor, Sharp Index @CoherenceMed
• Jane Sarasohn-Kahn — Health Economist, Advisor, Trend Weaver, Think-Health @healthythinker
• Lygeia Ricciardi — Chief Transformation Officer, Carium @Lygeia

Join Women in Health IT as we come together for an interactive chat about the International Women’s Day theme for 2019, #BalanceforBetter, the status of gender balance around the world and what can be done to support gender equality. Come connect, network and learn about changing the scales — the power of women will be evident when these industry professionals come together at the HIMSS Spot. (Nirav and I are long-time supporters of #WomeninHIT, so we’ll be there — and all the more reason when our colleague, Lygeia, is on stage.)

Connected Care Policy and Coverage: What’s Now, What’s Next?

Wednesday, February 13th, 1:15–2:00 pm

• Jody Hoffman — Policy Consultant, PCH Alliance

Engaging patients in more real-time, convenient, interactive ways, extend beyond traditional enterprise solutions. This session will provide an overview of CPT codes available, Medicare coverage policy, and legislative initiatives to advance connected care in these contemporary ways. (Carium is already working with Medicare beneficiaries, and we’re interested in supporting them further.)

Medicare Reimbursement and Connected Health: Where Are We?

Wednesday, February 13, 2:30–3:30 pm

• Brian Scarpelli, JD — Senior Global Policy Counsel, Connected Health Initiative

New models of care and shifting payment models are centered around care that is more continuous and collaborative. In this session, we will learn about reimbursement for use of connected health tools in Medicare and discuss how the use of these tools will improve patient outcomes while reducing costs.

State of the Healthcare API Economy

Thursday, February 14, 10:00–11:00 am

• Grahame Grieve — FHIR Product Director, HL7 International, @GrahameGrieve
• Rasu Shrestha, MD, MBA — Executive VP & Chief Strategy Officer, Atrium Health, @RasuShrestha
• Santosh Mohan, CPHIMS,FHIMSS,MMCI — Head, More Disruption Please Ecosystem, athenahealth, @santoshSmohan

APIs are at last making their way into healthcare as we see early adoption of tools and standards to integrate data more seamlessly. In this session, these industry experts will discuss the value, challenges and future of APIs in healthcare.

Don’t Build More HealthTech Without Asking Patients First

Thursday, February 14, 1:15–2:00 pm

• Jen Horonjeff, PhD — Founder and CEO, Savvy Cooperative, @jhoronjeff

The Savvy Cooperative is the first patient-owned co-op and public benefit corporation with a mission to empower people to use their health experiences to create positive change. This session focuses on why it’s important to work with diverse patients to improve healthcare.

At Carium, we understand healthcare is messy, frustrating and stressful, so we recently began working with the Savvy Cooperative to recruit people to share their health experiences to inspire us to do our jobs better and improve our product — and that’s why we’re so excited for this session. To develop successful patient-centered solutions, it’s important to develop with them, not just for them.

You can also catch one or more of us at the #pinksocks and New Media Meet-up on Tuesday, the HIMSS Social Media Ambassadors meetup on February 14th, and the Awards Gala, where Lygeia will be recognized as one of the Most Influential Women in Health IT by HIMSS.

What sessions are you most looking forward to at HIMSS19?