Join us for the 2016 NC HIMSS Annual Conference: Engaging Patients from the Mountains to the Sea, to be held April 20 & 21, 2016 at the Midtown Hilton Hotel Raleigh North Carolina. We have an excellent slate of presentations guaranteed to inspire and educate on everything from security to patient engagement to Telehealth.

Featured Presentation: Winning the Biggest Game of Her Life, Sylvia Hatchell, UNC Women’s Basketball Coach, and Leukemia Survivor

Sylvia Hatchell 2015-2016 headshot University of North Carolina Women's Basketball

In September, 2013, one week before her induction ceremony into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Sylvia Hatchell, head coach of women’s basketball at UNC, went in for her annual physical and found out that her white blood cell count was severely low. Doctors initially believed she might have a viral infection, but eventually her fatigue and inability to recover led her to schedule a bone-marrow biopsy at Lineberger Cancer Center. That night she learned that she had acute myeloid leukemia, a severe form of blood cancer that is especially fatal for victims over 60 years old (5 percent survive past five years of diagnosis). Hear and learn from her person story of the most trying struggle of her life and the three things that carried her through: her positive attitude, dedication to exercise and an amazing support system of family and friends.

Featured Presentation: Physician’s Perspective on Patient Engagement, Jill A. Ohar, MD, FCCP, Professor of Internal Medicine, Wake Forest University School of Medicine & James F. Donohue, MD, Professor of Medicine, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Join us for a   “a day in the life” round-table discussion providing an overview of clinical perception of technology in the critical care setting. We’ll address how clinicians use/leverage technology as it exists in their environments today to improve patient outcomes. What is the reality of this utilization compared with the vision at time of deployment: are there gaps, is there something that does not exist today? We’ll talk about education – what level of education is being provided for clinical end users on existing technology available in the clinical setting?  We’ll also touch on CME opportunities around learning/utilizing both existing and forthcoming technology for patient care and medical societies; now presenting on wearables, telemedicine, and other forms of technology utilization.

Jill A Ohar, MD, is a Professor of Medicine at Wake Forest University School of Medicine in Winston-Salem, Section on Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Allergy and Immunologic Diseases. She received her medical degree from the Medical College of Pennsylvania and completed her residency in internal medicine and her fellowship in critical care medicine and pulmonary diseases at the Medical College of Virginia. She is board certified in both internal medicine and critical care medicine. Additionally, she  served as a Professor of Medicine and as Medical Director for the Department of Internal Medicine at St. Louis University School of Medicine in Missouri. Her clinical and research interests focus on inhalational diseases such as COPD and asbestos related diseases such as mesothelioma and asbestosis.

James F Donohue, MD, is a Professor of Medicine and a member of the Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in Chapel Hill, NC. He received his medical degree at the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey in Newark, NJ, where he subsequently completed an internship and junior assistant residency. At the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, he completed a senior assistant residency and fellowship in the Division of Pulmonary Diseases and Critical Care Medicine. Over the years, he has authored more than 80 articles in such peer-reviewed journals as the American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care, Journal of COPD, Proceeding of the ATS and Chest. He also contributed the COPD section to the ACP’s latest issue of the MSKAP. He is an expert in clinical trials and has participated on steering committees, DSMBS, and presented to the FDA Pulmonary and Allergy Advisory Committee. He is on the ATS Corporate Relations Committee and for the past four years has served as the expert clinician on the “Great Cases” Symposium at the ATS. He has been included yearly in both Castle Connolly American Top Doctors and Best Doctors in America since inception.

Featured Presentation: Patient Engagement through Technology, Jennifer Maddocks, PT, WCS, MMCi, Service Line Owner of Patient Engagement at Duke Health Technology Solutions (DHTS)
Patient Engagement is a phrase we hear everywhere in healthcare today.  We intuitively know it is important for excellent care and the improved health of our patients but it is a term that can be difficult to define.  In this session we will look at what patient engagement is and some ways to use technology to enhance patient engagement.  This will include various ways to leverage the functionality of the patient portal along with other technologies that we are piloting at Duke Health.

Jennifer Maddocks, PT, WCS, MMCi, is the Service Line Owner of Patient Engagement for Duke Health Technology Solutions (DHTS).  She trained as a physical therapist at the University of Pittsburgh in the mid 90’s and is board certified as a women’s health clinical specialist.  Recently Jennifer graduated from the Master of Management in Clinical Informatics at Duke University and joined DHTS in her current role this past fall.  She is working with many stakeholders throughout the health system to advance the way patients are involved with their own care and the care of their loved ones.

Roadblocks, Silos, and Changes Oh My: Leading Others Down the Yellow Brick Road

Jason Smith, Internetwork Engineering and Christopher Johnson, Systems Maintenance Services

In a world of cyber chaos, evolving technology, and the wildly increasing threat of data breaches, Systems Maintenance Services (SMS), in partnership with Internetwork Engineering (IE), will share their insights into implementing an Information Security Roadmap, building an Information Security Management System from the ground up, and creating a culture of Cyber Security awareness. Specifically, SMS will share how they are using a variety of games, videos, training modules, blogs, and newsletters to educate their employees, as well as discuss their Top 5 Lessons learned along the way.

Jason Smith is an IT Security and Compliance consultant at Internetwork Engineering, with several years of experience in IT, IT Security, and Compliance. He has worked in retail, government contracting, telecom, state and local government, and banking to ensure secure and compliant environments. He has also worked as an adjunct instructor teaching both IT and Security curriculum.

Chris Johnson is currently the Information Security Manager for Systems Maintenance Services, with more than 10 years of experience in the Information Security and Privacy domains. His areas of expertise include: policy, governance, training and education, GRC solutions development, and Information Security program design and management. Chris was a founding member of the Carolina’s Archer user group, and serves on the Board of Advisors for eGRC.com. He received his B.A. from Catawba College and is currently working to obtain his M.S. in Information Assurance from Western Governor’s University.

Application of Predictive Modeling to Avoiding 30-day Readmissions

Michael Cousins, Forecast Health & Jason Burke, UNC Healthcare

Since several of CMS’ Medicare initiatives are targeted to reducing the 30-day readmission rates among Medicare beneficiaries, most hospitals and health systems have recognized that reducing readmission rates is vital and have started readmission reduction initiatives. There are a lot of readmission predictive models in the marketplace, some built into EMRs, but (1) they are not very accurate, (2) they do not identify patients who are “impactable”, and (3) they do not provide the care team with actionable information. We have created simple technology and analytics that integrate person-specific consumer and social determinants of health data together with geocoded data and data from the EMR and claims. Together, this program identifies the patients at highest risk, the subset who are “impactable”, and provides patient-specific guidance to the care team.

Trained as an actuary, Norman Storwick has spent much of his career using predictive analytics to help providers better understand and treat their patients and manage financial risk. He has worked at companies ranging from startups to actuarial consultants to major insurance companies and is currently at Forecast Health creating reports and models that make predictive analytics more actionable to manage patients and health systems.

Three Strategies for Building a Solid Foundation to Comprehensive Population Health Management

Karen Burton, Logicalis and Tony Merlo, Agile Edge Health

There are many challenges for managing current provider business models successfully, and there is uncertainty and complexity about when and how to transition into new or expanded risk-bearing models. For example, in today’s acute-care provider businesses, there are complex consumer characteristics and gaps in care models – especially before and after acute services delivery — that are likely creating risks which increasingly challenge providers’ quality of care and operational efficiencies. Ultimately providers face several leadership challenges and opportunities to be a population health manager across multiple dimensions simultaneously. There are three strategies that can be implemented for both significant near-term clinical and financial improvement and creating a foundation for long-term success.

Karen Burton is Logicalis U.S . Healthcare Business Development Manager, responsible for strategic healthcare solution programs, marketing, sales training, and executive events. She develops software and services partnerships with key healthcare software ISVs to complement Logicalis offerings. She has over 25 years of experience in the healthcare IT industry. Karen also has a BA in Communications and a MA in Organizational Communications.

Tony Merlo is Chief Knowledge Officer at Agile Edge Health, bringing over 20 years of experience in Population Health Management. Previously, Tony was a Managing Director and co-founder of HealthSTAR Advisors working with major employers to develop and implement comprehensive health and productivity strategies. Prior to starting HealthSTAR, he had been at Health Dialog as National Practice Leader for Employer Solutions. He has a BA in English from Boston College and an MSBA in Finance from The University of Massachusetts Amerherst.

The NIST Cybersecurity Framework within Healthcare

Ned Miller, Intel Security

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has developed a Cybersecurity Framework that offers a set of standards, best practices, and methods for addressing cyber risk, aligning with the HIPAA risk assessment. Providers do not need to apply every security measure or control in the Framework; decisions should be based on their specific situation to further optimize their individual requirements in order to achieve a more mature security posture.The commitment from the cybersecurity community needs to move towards promoting the use of the Framework and emphasizing the relevance of cybersecurity risk to the healthcare environment.

Ned Miller, a 30+ year technology industry veteran, is the Chief Technology Strategist for the Intel Security Group’s Public Sector Division. He is responsible for ensuring that technology, standards, and implementations meet the challenges of information security and privacy issues today and in the future. In addition, Ned is also responsible for worldwide government certification efforts to ensure Intel’s products comply with the latest global security standards and protocols. Previously he held executive sales and technical leadership positions with Hewlett Packard and Symantec.

Gain Visibility and Control of Your Healthcare IT Infrastructure: In-flight Data Analytics Capabilities Deliver Better IT Application and Infrastructure Performance

Lisa Owens, Presidio and James Cole, UNC Hospital

Healthcare IT organizations require a new approach to solve incredibly complex application and infrastructure problems. If you’re still relying on traditional monitoring solutions for your IT infrastructure, you need to learn about in-flight data analytics. ExtraHop’s In-flight Data Analytics provide both real-time and historical views into the actual transactions and are critical for the most efficient troubleshooting and optimization of your IT environment. The presenters will explain how UNC Healthcare increased control and visibility of their applications and infrastructure, and optimized use of in-flight data analytics to ensure high quality patient care.

Lisa Owens serves as the Director of Healthcare Technology for Presidio South. Previously, she served in various IT roles including interim chief technology and health information officer for Spartanburg Regional Healthcare System, where she was instrumental in achieving recognition as Healthcare’s Most Wired Hospital for seven consecutive years. She received her MBA from Gardner Webb University and is a certified project management professional, a member of CHIME and HIMSS and is the President-Elect for the SC HIMSS chapter

Stakeholder and User Engagement in Iterative Health IT Design

Kelly Reeves, Department of Family Medicine Research, Carolinas HealthCare System
Andrew McWilliams, Department of Family Medicine Research, Carolinas HealthCare System

Asthma is a high impact chronic disease that is difficult to manage and associated with marked disparities in outcomes. Despite the availability of effective treatment options and evidence-based guidelines, most asthma patients are unlikely to be adequately treated based on current guidelines. Shared Decision Making (SDM) is a process by which a healthcare choice is made jointly by the provider and the patient and has been shown to improve patient engagement and patient-oriented outcomes. The overall goal of this project was to improve asthma outcomes by leveraging a health IT solution that facilitates standardized asthma care delivery, makes the care process more efficient and promotes patient/caregiver engagement and activation in their self-management.

A clinical research nurse at the Department of Family Medicine, Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS), Kelly Reeves graduated from the Medical University of South Carolina with a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and is certified in User Experience (UX). Her research interests include user-centric design of health information and technology (IT) solutions to improve evidence based quality of care.

Medical Director of Research Department of Family Medicine and Dickson Advanced Analytics Group at Carolina’s HealthCare System (CHS), Andy McWilliams graduated from the University of North Carolina Schools of Medicine and Public Health with a combined MD/MPH and completed a combined Internal Medicine and Pediatrics residency at the University of North Carolina.
Data Under Attack: How Healthcare Organizations Can Protect PHI Without Compromising

Usability or Patient Care

Joe Sturonas, PKWARE

The healthcare industry is no stranger to the effects of what happens when data isn’t truly protected. In fact, a recent report from IDC revealed that one in three Americans’ health information was compromised in 2015. Even worse, similar numbers are expected to occur again in 2016, unless we take measures to protect patient information. This presentation will examine the common security challenges and barriers healthcare organizations have to overcome and best practices to provide patients with the highest level of PHI protection. We’ll also present strategies for ensuring workflow consistency and how to work across platforms, devices, and systems while keeping data secure.

Joe Sturonas has been developing commercial software for more than 25 years, and at PKWARE he drives technology strategy across the company’s entire product portfolio. As chief technology officer, Joe is responsible for product development, including software engineering, documentation, quality assurance and technical support. He has extensive experience speaking at numerous industry and leadership events including INTEROP London, the Cyber Security Training and Technology Forum and the ISSA International Conference.

Bridging the Interoperability Gap with a Patient-Centric Approach to FHIR

Chris Fierer, Medfusion and John Meier, Wake International Medicine Consultants, Inc

With all the technologic advancements of the past few years, there is still a surprising lack of interoperability across the healthcare continuum. This has, in turn, reduced the quality of the patient experience and has left patients and providers alike frustrated by gaps in data-sharing, communication, payment processes and more. During this session, presenters will address how the changing standards for interoperability, including FHIR, are affecting the way patients and providers access data. Presenters will also share how one Raleigh-based group of providers is leveraging technology to facilitate access to and transparency of information in order to improve the experiences of its patients.

Chris Fierer is the Director of Innovation at Medfusion in Cary, NC, leading their Mobile and API offerings for the Medfusion Platform. Using his background in technology, Chris has spent close to a decade in healthcare and is focused on delivering solutions to solve providers’ interoperability and patient engagement challenges.

John Meier , M.D., is a practicing physician in Raleigh, NC, is board-certified in Internal Medicine and Pediatrics and actively engaged in the local community. Leveraging his background as an MBA, and having spent several years in the corporate world, Dr. Meier brings a passion for delivering great care while using technology and running successful businesses. He is currently focused on working with ACOs and healthcare IT businesses in the Research Triangle as the industry moves into the next wave of healthcare.

Cure for the Common Cloud: How Healthcare Can Safely Enable the Cloud

Eric Hay, Netskope

Healthcare is a prime candidate for cloud adoption, yet security concerns and regulation has held some of the industry back from jumping in with both feet. But some forward-thinking organizations are figuring it out and safely enabling cloud services for their users while protecting patient data. Join Bob Gilbert, Chief Evangelist from Netskope, for a lively discussion of how you can forge the path to the cloud while keeping a tight grasp of PHI and other sensitive corporate data.

Eric is a Senior Systems Engineer for Netskope and veteran of Security Industry for 20+ years, working in several aspects of Information Security in Federal, Commercial, and International accounts worldwide.

Integrating Analytics and Big Data for Value-Based Healthcare

Maury DePalo, Edgewater Consulting and Brian Kelsey, Edgewater/Ranzal

Healthcare providers are under relentless pressure to improve clinical outcomes and increase quality while continuing to reduce costs to deliver care. New payment models are driving health systems, physician groups, and payers to adopt a population focus to drive consistency across an expanding network of care providers – a model that includes shared risks and incentives tied to both clinical and financial performance metrics. This presentation will discuss how a multi-facility community hospital group and physician network is applying innovative, yet practical Big Data technologies to advance their value-based care, population-focused health programs and aligning deployment with various community providers.

Maury DePalo is Director and Principal Consultant in Edgewater’s Healthcare Consulting Practice, a strategic services and solutions group working with leading healthcare providers, payers and research-oriented life sciences organizations. He has worked with numerous health systems organizations including Boston Children’s Hospital, UMass Memorial Health Care, Sentara Healthcare, University of Pennsylvania Health System, Einstein Healthcare Network, and Delta Dental of New Jersey, among others. Prior to this Maury was a registered pharmacist, a laboratory research technician, a principle software engineer, systems analyst, project manager and enterprise data strategist in both healthcare and other industry settings.

Brian Kelsey is a senior Project Lead with more than 10 years of experience and deep expertise in the design, development and full life-cycle implementation of mission-critical information systems applied to innovative solutions in various areas and applications of enterprise business intelligence and exploratory analytics. As a former employee of the New York State public safety organization, his experience managing complex and sensitive data systems under precise deadlines has enabled him to develop an effective approach to successful solution delivery under highly constrained regulatory and government development lifecycles.

Quality Measures – Move from Gathering and Reporting to Utilization that Drives Value

Stephen Nuckolls, Coastal Carolina Health Care, PA and Matthew Fusan, Allscripts

The ability to use quality measures to drive continuous quality improvement and efficient utilization needs to become a core competency of healthcare organizations as we move further along the continuum toward value-based care. With the introduction of MACRA and the proliferation of alternative payment models organizations need to develop and implement quality and continuous improvement strategies that will position them to provide better care and to maximize reimbursements. Coastal Carolina Health Care (CCHC) was selected as one of 27 MSSP ACOs and one of five that received advance funding. Since this time its efforts have resulted in improved quality which has led the group to consistently be a top tier performer in the program.

Stephen Nuckolls currently serves as the Chief Executive Officer of Coastal Carolina Health Care, PA, and their ACO, Coastal Carolina Quality Care, Inc. His responsibilities include the direct management of the 50 provider multi-specialty physician-owned medical practice. Additionally, his is responsible for overseeing the daily operations of the medical practice’s Advanced Payment Model ACO that was selected by CMS in the initial round in April 2012. Stephen earned his BA in Economics from Davidson College and his MAC from UNC’s Kenan-Flagler Business School. He is a founding member of the National Association of ACOs and currently serves as their Chairman of the Board.

Matthew Fusan is a Strategic Sales Consultant at Allscripts, focused on clients’ transition from fee-for-service to value-based care, developing solutions and providing strategic guidance to help clients succeed with alternative payment models and population health management. Prior to this role, Matthew was part of the Allscripts Regulatory Team providing guidance as Allscripts prepared products and services for new opportunities and challenges based on the transition to value-based care. He has held a variety of program management and delivery leadership positions at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina and Highmark Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Matthew has more than 15 years of experience in the healthcare industry and holds a Bachelor of Science degree from Penn State University.

A Practical Solution for Patient Engagement: How Provider Organizations Can Move to Continuous, Collaborative Care to Achieve all Three Triple Aim Objectives

Gregory Weidner, MD, FACP, Carolinas Healthcare System and John Moore, MD, PhD, Twine Health

Clinicians and experts across the healthcare industry suggest that patient engagement is the savior for modern healthcare, and the only way to truly address the triple aim. Despite widespread use of this term, there is little agreement about what patient engagement actually is, and few studies have demonstrated any meaningful impact. The only proven method for provider groups to survive in a value-based world is to move strictly from only office-based visits as nexus of care, to continuous, whole-person care. This strategy improves outcomes and patient experience, requiring less clinician time, at a lower cost than traditional care, despite increase in human capital (for coaches, i.e., practice extenders) and medication costs (due to improved medication adherence).

Gregory R. Weidner, MD, FACP, is a proven and committed physician, healthcare transformation strategist, leader and change agent. Dr. Weidner received his a BA in English with distinction from Cornell University and his MD from the University of Rochester. He completed his residency and was Chief Medical Resident at the University of Virginia. Dr. Weidner has held various executive and leadership positions in and around the Charlotte area, and is currently Medical Director, Primary Care Innovation and Proactive Health at Carolinas HealthCare System, where he’s responsible for finding, analyzing and implementing innovative solutions to address the quality, cost and experience of primary care.

John Moore, MD, PhD, is the co-founder and CEO of Twine Health. Dr. Moore came up with the idea for Twine Health during six years at the MIT Media Lab where he studied the healthcare delivery model and created a revolutionary approach to care: technology-supported apprenticeship. Bringing together advances in health psychology, learning science and human-computer interaction, Twine is designed to become the primary tool for teamwork between patients and clinicians. Before attending medical school, Moore received a BS in Biomedical engineering, and was a Fulbright Scholar.

Examining Clinician Perspectives of and User Experiences with New Technology to Address Hospital Readmissions

Marion Davis, Carolinas HealthCare System

Readmissions have been linked to a number of factors including inadequate discharge planning, poor coordination between the hospital and community clinicians, and the lack of effective longitudinal community-based care. In 2013, Carolinas HealthCare System (CHS) facilities adopted a risk scoring model developed to predict an individual patient’s risk for 30-day readmissions prior to discharge. The results and suggested interventions from the risk scoring model were delivered to care managers through a new software tool. Care managers were trained to use those results and the software tool to plan discharge interventions to help high-risk patients manage their health. This presentation describes the focus group methodology, the stages of user experience and how that user feedback was used to enhance usability.

Dr. Marion Davis is a Health Services Researcher at Carolinas HealthCare System where she is responsible for conducting qualitative and survey research within the Dickson Advanced Analytics department. Her research interests include health disparities, communication between patients and providers, the role of technology in health care systems, and culture and cognition. She earned a Ph.D. in (social) Psychology and Communication Studies from the University of Michigan.

Dr. Yhenneko Taylor is Director of Outcomes Research and Evaluation at Carolinas HealthCare System, where she leads a team responsible for designing and implementing research studies and program evaluations within the Dickson Advanced Analytics department. She has been in involved in numerous studies examining outcomes for disease-specific populations and populations defined by demographic characteristics. Her research interests include health disparities, large data sets, maternal and child health and health policy. She earned a Ph.D. in Health Services Research from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Modifications to Meaningful Use in 2015 through 2017 (Modified Stage 2) and the NC Medicaid

EHR Incentive Program

Layne Roberts, NC Division of Medical Assistance

On October 6, 2015, CMS released the Final Rule for Stage 3 and Modifications to Meaningful Use in 2015 through 2017 (Modified Stage 2) for the Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Program. The Final Rule impacts Meaningful Use (MU) reporting beginning with Program Year 2015, which is open until April 30, 2016. We will provide an overview of the changes for Modified Stage 2 and explain the system modifications for Modified Stage 2 in the North Carolina Medicaid Incentive Payment System (NC-MIPS). While this presentation will be geared to professionals already participating in the NC Medicaid EHR Incentive Program, we will begin with a very brief introduction to the program and emphasize that program year 2016 is the last year to begin participation by adopting, implementing, or upgrading an EHR. Eligible professionals may receive up to $63,750 in incentive payments over the six years that they choose to participate in the NC Medicaid EHR Incentive Program.

Layne Roberts joined NC Medicaid’s Electronic Health Record Incentive Program in November 2011. She is a health information technology data analyst and works in Medicaid’s databases and in systems specific to the Program. She is a graduate of NCSU with degrees in Sociology and Business Administration.

Technology Considerations in Clinically Integrated Networks

Sheldon Hamburger, The Aristone Group

The U.S. healthcare system is rapidly moving to value-based payment models where quality is rewarded over volume. New models such as ACOs and bundled payments are showing promise to the point that CMS plans on accelerating their adoption. Healthcare providers are responding by joining forces in a variety of models including clinically integrated networks (CIN) in which disparate organizations cooperate in patient care to reduce overall community cost. Among the challenges facing these providers is the ability to implement cost effective interconnected technology solutions that enable sharing of clinical and financial data across their organizations. This session will focus on practical methods and challenges associated with designing a technology plan that support these CINs.

Sheldon Hamburger serves as a Principal of The Aristone Group, a Raleigh, NC -based healthcare consulting group. With focus on helping healthcare enterprise organizations address emerging trends, Sheldon provides expertise in strategy, process, and technology. With over 30 years of experience in developing and marketing healthcare technology products and services, his career includes various “firsts” in medical and pharmaceutical financial processing systems including electronic claims and payment applications. Sheldon earned a bachelor’s degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Michigan.

The Role of Bar Code Medication Administration System to Prevent High Alert Medication Errors

Suja Davis, School of Nursing, UNC-CH

The adoption of Bar Code Medication Administration (BCMA) system has grown among U.S. hospitals for the past decade. This presentation focuses on the role of BCMA in the prevention of high alert medication errors, which pose the greatest risk to patients when compared to other medications due to their narrow therapeutic range. Special strategies such as independent double checks, patient monitoring before administration, monitoring of lab values, etc., are mandated with the administration of high alert medications using eMAR and barcoding but can be bypassed often with the paper form of MAR . The implementation of BCMA has helped to tighten the independent double checks and will stop the RN if the drug concentrations are incorrect. eMAR and BCMA are effective tools to promote the safety associated with administration of high alert medications.

Suja Davis is a Registered Nurse, with a Master’s in Medical-Surgical Nursing and Post-Master’s in Nursing Informatics from UNC-CH . She is an active member of CoNI since 2013 and works as a Clinical Assistant Professor @ SON, UNC-CH, teaching undergraduate clinicals and involved with Master’s papers and Undergraduate Honor’s Projects.

Growing Health Analytics Without Hiring New Staff

Monica Horvath, ThotWave Healthcare Analytics Academy

Finding and retaining health analytics professionals is more difficult than ever. As other industries are embracing advanced analytics, healthcare is just now realizing that such competencies cannot be found overnight. This educational presentation will describe how healthcare has many professionals skilled in data management and reporting, but there is a competency gap in problem design and analytics literacy. Most organizations don’t realize there is great potential to grow health analytics by investing in internal candidates with the right thirst for data, even if they don’t have a traditional background. We will share case studies describing how organizations that lead in health analytics have approached this problem.

Monica Horvath is the Director of Health Intelligence for the ThotWave Health Analytics Academy. In this role, she provides development training and thought leadership for healthcare organizations to improve the overall analytics literacy of their teams. She has over 15 years’ experience working with Big Data, nine of which were in service of healthcare delivery. For three years, Monica led a multidisciplinary health intelligence team at Duke Medicine that evaluated health information technology approaches and their impact on financial endpoints, care design, and patient outcomes. Monica has a PhD from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center Graduate School for Biomedical Sciences and a BS in Chemistry from the University of Pittsburgh.

Telehealth Intelligence: A 2016 Market Update on News, Trends, and Activity

Bryan Arkwright, Schumacher Clinical Partners – Consulting Services

In this session attendees will hear about the major Telehealth news, trends, and implementations occurring in 2015 and 2016 along with an outlook through 2016 into 2017. The top 5 Telehealth news stories and the top 5 Ttelehealth trends from 2015 to present day 2016 and how each specifically impacts North Carolina and other Southeast Hospitals and Health Systems will be reviewed. Focusing on key Telehealth case studies of implementations and program go-live launches, attendees will learn why certain clinical programs were selected, what they included, the anticipated benefits, obstacles and challenges, and the results realized.

Bryan T. Arkwright works as a Senior Consultant with Schumacher Clinical Partners Consulting Services, focusing on Telehealth / Telemedicine Strategy and Operations. Bryan’s immediate past experience was serving as Director of the Mission Center for Telehealth in Asheville, NC, where he oversaw the expansion and growth of over 15 different telehealth clinical programs reaching over 44 locations and establishing a comprehensive multi-year telehealth strategic plan. Bryan’s other experiences include working at Wake Forest Baptist Health in Winston-Salem, NC, serving as the Administrator for their Office of Telehealth / Clinical Business Development. Bryan has a Bachelor’s degree from Ohio University, a Master of Health Administration from Medical College of Virginia / VCU, and a Six Sigma Black Belt from the American Society for Quality.

Multifactor Authentication – 2016’s Essential Security Project

Chuck Kesler, Duke Health and Jon Sternstein, Stern Security

According to a recent survey, 85% of small healthcare providers in North Carolina allow remote access into their EHR, most only requiring a username and password to access the system. If these passwords fall into the wrong hands, an unauthorized individual can gain access to patient records, and it is a reportable data breach. Multifactor authentication is the solution to this threat and it is already required for e-prescribing controlled substances. In this presentation, we will explain multifactor (two-factor) authentication and its benefits in healthcare. We will also discuss simple implementation strategies that have worked in healthcare environments and are absolutely necessary to mitigate data breaches, prevent password stealing phishing attacks, and secure Protected Health Information (PHI).

As Chief Information Security Officer, Chuck Kesler leads the information security program for Duke Medicine. With over 1,500 hospital beds, 28,000 employees, 1.8M+ annual patient visits, and $1B+ in research contracts and grants, Duke Medicine is one of the nation’s leading academic medical centers and health systems. Chuck has over 24 years of information technology and security experience, including serving as the senior manager for Symantec Corporation’s Security Advisory Services consulting practice in the U.S. Chuck received an MBA and B.S. in Physics from North Carolina State University, and has multiple industry certifications, including CISSP, CISM, PMP, and ITIL.

Jon Sternstein has over 13 years of experience in the security industry and has been a lead contributor to securing a wide variety of environments in the education, finance, healthcare, law, and government industries. In 2013, Jon founded Stern Security, a data security consulting company. He teaches a security class through the SANS Institute on Network Penetration Testing and Ethical Hacking and is also the co-chair of the Technology Resources Workgroup at the North Carolina Healthcare Information and Communications Alliance (NCHICA). Jon graduated with a B.A. in Computer Science, and holds the following security certifications: GIAC Penetration Tester (GPEN), Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP), Cisco Certified Network Administrator (CCNA), Certified Ethical Hacker (CEH), and more.

Meaningful Use Reboot: Directions and Opportunities to Enhance Your Journey

Naomi Levinthal, The Advisory Board Company

Providers in meaningful use (MU) continue to face challenges to meet current program requirements, plan for future changes, and find opportunities for strategic alignment. CMS drastically modified the current MU program and restructured it for Stage 3. Proven MU practices implemented today will serve as a strong foundation for long-term success. This session will present research and successful practices from the Advisory Board Company’s IT research group.

Naomi Levinthal is a senior consultant with The Advisory Board Company’s Health Care IT Advisor and Meaningful Use Navigator programs. She specializes in medical informatics and federal and regulatory health IT policy. Previously, Naomi served as certification manager for the Certification Commission for Health Information Technology (CCHIT), guiding EHR vendors and hospitals with self-developed systems through testing and certification processes. Naomi received an MS from Northwestern University in Medical Informatics, an MA from Loyola University Chicago, and is a Certified Professional in Healthcare Information Management Systems (CPHIMS).

Best Practices in Revenue Cycle Managment – The Era of Financial Clearance and Patient Engagement

Jonathan Wiik, MSHA, MBA, TransUnion

Consumerism and the rising cost of healthcare have brought forth dramtic challenges to Revenue Cycle. While clinical health and outcomes of patients has been a focus in the delivery of care, financial health is often an afterthought for the patient and the provider. By 2019, providers could see a 50 percent increase in the amount of revenue requiring a collection from patients. Of that amount, 30 percent (as much as $200 billion) will be written off as uncollectable. Accordingly, financial clearance—an industry term—is gaining momentum. Screening patients for eligibility under their insurance plan, confirming benefits are payable for the services they are about to receive, and ensuring they can afford to fund their out-of-pocket costs are paramount processes that should occur as early as possible in the revenue cycle.

Jonathan Wiik has over 20 years experience in health care, and he has worked in both the acute care and insurance setting. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Sports Medicine, and holds two Master’s Degrees – one in Health Administration, and one in Business. He is currently serving on the Colorado HFMA Board, is the President of the Board of Directors at an Assisted Living facility in Boulder, CO, and also served on the Colorado ACHE chapter board for two years. Jonathan has spoken at several national and state events, and has developed several nationally-recognized programs in Point-of-Service (POS) collections and Financial Clearance. He is Silver Certified in LEAN and was the Value Stream Owner for Revenue Cycle and Patient Access, which generated multi-million dollar savings in their implementation.

Operationalizing the Federal Strategic Plan for a Regional HIE

Anne Marie Robertson, Coastal Connect Health Information Exchange

As a regional Health Information Exchange, Coastal Connect has established functionality that was of value to gain participation and remain at the forefront in Federal Health IT principles– ensuring value, access and utilization. Regional strategies have established an environment where data exchange and utilization are expected so that everyone benefits from simple, timely, equitable and efficient sharing of health information. Expansion of strategies to disparate healthcare entities in our region has allowed for revamping of clinical workflows to aid in the care of our chronically ill population and assist communities in promoting wellness and continuity of care–particularly for our most vulnerable populations. Coastal Connect’s regional approach has included goals that aim to advance exchange and use of electronic health information among individuals, hospitals, community practices, home and community-based supports, and public health entities to improve the health of individuals and overall communities.

As the Chief Executive Officer of both Coastal Carolinas Health Alliance and Coastal Connect Health Information Exchange, Yvonne Hughes brings more than 15 years of experience in healthcare finance, corporate negotiations, interoperability design, and policy development. Under Yvonne’s leadership the 12 member hospitals of the Alliance developed and successfully launched Coastal Connect, Inc., a non-profit regional health information organization that connects four independent hospitals and over 800 unaffiliated physicians. Coastal Connect has been both locally and nationally recognized as a successful model of providing real-time data exchange. Yvonne holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Business from Mount Olive College and a Master’s in Public Administration with a concentration in Non-Profit Management from the University of North Carolina Wilmington.

Question, Analyze, Act: Moving to Real-time Patient Relationship Management

David Olson, Clinect Healthcare, Inc.

Understanding your patient experience has always been important, but the degrees and dimensions of understanding have changed dramatically. You have to move beyond an occasional post-encounter survey to truly gauge how your patients view your providers and services. Patients have immediate feedback from social sources and are expecting more than an appointment and a bill. If you could analyze patient input in real-time and recognize positive or negative trends as they happen, would that change how you respond to patient incidents? The era of capturing survey responses and getting results in 3 months is over. Today’s technology and the seamless integration between healthcare systems can enable your practice to question, analyze and act on patient feedback and incidences like never before.

David Olsen is the CTO of Clinect Healthcare and the architect of Clinect’s PRM platform. He has over 35 years in software development and technology marketing, primarily focusing on user experience and real-time response. Prior to Clinect, David was the Director of Enterprise Solutions for Progress software, working with various software application development partners in healthcare, retail and manufacturing.

RTLS Increases Benefits at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

Scott Hondros, Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center

As part of an ongoing initiative, the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center has deployed a real-time location system infrastructure designed to meet the needs of current use cases (asset management, temperature monitoring, blood bank supply monitoring, patient flow, staff duress, staff assistance nurse call, queue management and more), as well as future uses, to include extended patient workflow in the operating room, in the emergency department and across the enterprise. The RTLS infrastructure is deployed in all clinical areas of the fully integrated academic medical facility, along with all ancillary support function areas that are part of the patient-flow process. Learn how the firm has continued to execute against this initiative, and how the use of RTLS technology has moved well beyond tracking mobile medical assets.

Having managed the complexity of leading large multi-national teams across five different continents, Scott Hondros has turned his focus back to the U.S. and a line of work dear to his heart – healthcare. With a knack for technology and process change, Scott applies his engineering and program management expertise to help RTLS clients operationalize and manage widespread enterprise visibility deployments. Scott holds degrees (SCPM) from Stanford University in Advanced Project Management, North Carolina State University in Leadership, and The Landing School in Yacht Design/Engineering.