Electronic Health Reporter

It should come as little surprise to me that no matter the healthcare sector — long-term care, ambulatory or in patient, for example – most of the worries faced are the same or very similar. Many of the same levels of attention is given to many of the highly complex usual suspects – interoperability, health information exchange, accountable care, HIPAA and even mandates like meaningful use. The murmurs of those working here are often similar and there is a fairly deep collective holding of the breath in regard to advancements or developments in these areas regarding the blowing winds of how these and other issues sway constituents throughout the marketplace.

The general sentiment of individuals, those leading large hospitals and multi-location care facilities, who express their opinions and concerns to organizations like HIMSS, to name one, are the same as the concerns voiced by many of the attendees at PointClickCare’s annual user meeting, to name one, in Orlando Nov. 2-5, 2014. These same sentiments also are expressed at variety of other meetings of the minds throughout the US in similar constituent groups or with vendor and other allegiances.

Educational and work sessions held at these gatherings always have the same look and feel; the same as those expressed at PointClickCare’s Summit 2014. Engagement, connection, care; ACOs, HIEs, and managing their relationships; EHRs, interoperability, and managing this relationship and the flow of information (or doing so when the information does begin to flow); and change management strategies that provide guidance and advice for … managing change.

The information exchanged in venues such as these and the sessions themselves are valuable, of course, and needed to fill an enormous information void. Most importantly, these healthcare education sessions draw together folks seeking guidance and those needing insight, as well as provide a dash of leadership at times when much seems to be lacking. Finally, these educational sessions – quick and concise as many of these sessions may be – alleviate fear during a scary and tumultuous time in healthcare.

When brought together for these events, strangers feel like friends, individual difference become commonalities and unifying actions can begin to take shape. No longer are caregivers and administrators alone in their efforts; they are quickly able to see that they are part of a much larger body than they might have otherwise realized if they were left to their organizational offices and making hallway rounds.

Therefore, the recent gathering of more than 1,200 of the nation’s leading healthcare practitioners and providers by PointClickCare — a provider of IT solutions like EHRs to 9,000 senior care homes throughout North America — to provide them with education, insight and a little encouragement, proved an engaging experience and a valuable exchange. There are other conferences and meetings that lead to similar outcomes and they are just as valuable. Perhaps now they are, and continue to be, a vital source of readily available information for healthcare’s front line organizations as they face issues that continue to percolate.