Healthcare IT professionals’ greatest concern around mobile health technologies is the potential of a breach of patient data, according to a recent survey of HIMSS14 attendees conducted by Axway, a market leader in governing the flow of data.
Conducted at the HIMSS annual conference in Orlando, the poll found that 45 percent of individuals surveyed believe the greatest barrier to mobile health adoption is the risk of a data breach, followed by meeting regulatory and compliance requirements for the privacy and security of patient data.
Other key findings include:
44 percent of those surveyed believe the integration of disparate health IT systems is the most challenging IT issue facing healthcare organizations;
53 percent believe that improved access to healthcare information is the most important benefit driving mobile health adoption;
38 percent believe that the widespread adoption of mobile health services is one to three years away, and nearly 90 percent believe it will occur within five years.
The results demonstrate the rising trend of mobile health services and reflect growing concerns of healthcare professionals on the risks associated with new services.
“Mobile health is not only helping improve clinical outcomes and lower medical costs, it is also becoming a way to differentiate services and win over new customers as they are given more choices for insurance and providers,” said Rob Meyer, vice president of solutions, vertical marketing and management, Axway. “The risk of data breaches, HIPAA compliance, and reliability have been some of the biggest issues for the hundreds of payers and providers we’ve worked with. But they do not have to be a barrier. Together we have repeatedly been able to put in place the technology and processes needed to avoid breaches and ensure compliance in major mobile health initiatives.
The Axway poll was conducted at HIMSS14 Annual Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Florida and includes responses from 39 healthcare IT and business professionals. Axway healthcare solutions enable organizations to securely integrate and exchange private healthcare, administrative and financial information across disparate platforms. For more information, visit: http://www.axway.com/industries-customers/industry/healthcare
About Axway
Axway (NYSE Euronext:AXW.PA), a market leader in governing the flow of data, is a global software company with more than 11,000 public- and private-sector customers in 100 countries. For more than a decade, Axway has empowered leading organizations around the world with proven solutions that help manage business-critical interactions through the exchange of data flowing across the enterprise, among B2B communities, cloud and mobile devices. Our award-winning solutions span business-to-business integration, managed file transfer, API and identity management, and email security– offered on premise and in the Cloud with professional and managed services.Axway is registered in France with headquarters in the United States and offices in 19 countries. www.axway.com
A day removed from the chaos (and wonderment and bliss) of HIMSS14 I thought I’d provide you with some of my thoughts about my experiences at the event. First, it was a wonderful, albeit tiresome experience. I was glad, and proud, to be back.
I attended the show twice before – in 2011 and 2012 as a vendor – and this third time as a reporter. In sum, I enjoyed it much more being there as a member of the press. It was more enriching and engaging and I was able to learn more about what’s actually going on in the space.
My only regret: Not being able to connect with colleagues of mine in the blogosphere. If truth should be told, I would have liked to have personally met as many as possible. The presence of several at the show was noticeable and lively. I crossed paths with several of them, but was not actually able to shake hands and say hello. I take full responsibility. Perhaps I’m a bit shy and introverted.
However, I met many other great people and had great conversations at the show. Omnicell, Verisk Health, Allscripts, ZirMed, MedSys Group and SAS stand out. I saw some great displays and some great IT. However, there were many times in which I was bored. One vendor, for example (with what can probably be described as having the biggest social media presence on Twitter while there) did not live up to the hype, and likely needs some ongoing communication training to help its officers learn how to stay on point and drive a story home; a totally missed opportunity from this reporter’s perspective.
Overall, I tend to agree with John Lynn. I saw very little that was truly exciting and innovative; nothing that really knocked my socks off.
At the HIMSS Annual Conference and Exhibition in Orlando, HIMSS released the results of the 2014 HIMSS Nursing Informatics Workforce Survey, which examines the roles, responsibilities and outlook for nursing informatics professionals. The 2014 Survey captures current professional status and practice trends, while identifying changes that have occurred over the last nine years in the nursing informatics workforce.
The survey, supported by the HIMSS Nursing Informatics Community, continues to suggest that nurse informaticists play a crucial role in the development, implementation and optimization of information systems and applications including clinical documentation, computerized practitioner order entry (CPOE) and electronic medical/health records.
Another key finding of the survey is the overall growth in the nursing informatics field. Based on the responses of more than 1,000 nursing informatics specialists, 70 percent have titles that specified an informatics position, which is double the amount from the last HIMSS Nursing Workforce Survey conducted in 2011. The survey results also showed that professionals in the nursing informatics field experienced an increase in salaries and interest in pursuing additional training within the field.
“The industry demands for more robust clinical documentation and analytics – such as those associated with meaningful use – have increased the need for informaticists across the entire care spectrum. This year’s Survey showed a marked growth across the field of nursing informatics, as well as a deeper understanding and recognition of informatics as a nursing specialty,” said Joyce Sensmeier, vice president of informatics for HIMSS. “Nearly two thirds of respondents have a post-graduate degree and 28 percent have a Master’s degree or PhD in informatics which points to the fact that the field is rapidly maturing. System optimization/utilization was a new option in the 2014 Survey and selected by 39 percent of respondents, suggesting that we may be moving beyond simply implementing systems towards leveraging their value.”
Day 2 at HIMSS14 was much the same as day 1: Lots of walking, talking and great meetings with great organizations. I can’t thank enough vendors like Verisk Health, Omnicell, Amazing Charts and SAS for the great information they’ve shared, and for the perspectives about the market, trends and what’s ahead (and what’s behind).
Electronic health records are now foundational, and in many cases, they’ve lost their sex appeal. Though there’s an obvious and huge presence by them here, this year’s HIMSS doesn’t seem to have the same energy around the technology, from my point-of-view, that they did two or three years ago, for obvious reasons. Though their importance is still great, as we all know, other issues are taking center stage. ICD-10 is the obvious elephant in the room.
“Risk” is the biggest buzz word I’ve heard here in Orlando. I’ve heard it dozens of times. “Patient engagement” seems overcooked, according to those I’ve spoken to; an aspirational concept, yes, but actionable in an an entirely different story. Lofty goals and strategy, fewer practical best practices approaches for proceeding.
Patient engagement has only just begun, or at least is just developing past its infancy, and I look forward to seeing how it matures as a concept. Remember, just a couple years ago, those with vested interest claim patient portals would solve the ever elusive patient engagement issue. Portals clearly have not done so. Why would they? I remain skeptical that the actual patient is at the heart of this conversation rather how a systems can implement “best practices.” We’ll see, I suppose.
That said, HIMSS14 remains a wonderful experience and I’m glad to be here and meeting some wonderful people. I look forward to what today brings. Likely, more walking!
The following is a list of organizations I’ll personally be visiting with at HIMSS14, along with several others. Each has a compelling story and I’m looking forward to learning more about them.
Any thoughts on who you think I might be missing, or have overlooked?
AirStrip provides a complete, vendor and data source agnostic enterprise-wide clinical mobility solution, which enables clinicians to improve the health of individuals and populations. With deep clinical expertise and strong roots in mobile technology and data integration, AirStrip is empowering the nation’s leading health systems as the industry continues to evolve to new business models, accountable care and shared risk. Based in San Antonio, Texas, AirStrip allows health systems to unlock the full potential of their existing technology investments with a complete mobility solution that provides access to critical patient data across the care continuum. AirStrip is backed by investments from Sequoia Capital, Qualcomm, Inc., Hospital Corporation of America (HCA) and the Wellcome Trust. AirStrip’s customers includes HCA, Texas Health Resources, Vanguard Health Systems (part of Tenet Healthcare Corporation), Dignity Health and Ardent Health Services.
Allscripts delivers the insights that healthcare providers require to generate world-class outcomes. The company’s Electronic Health Record, practice management and other clinical, revenue cycle, connectivity and information solutions create a Connected Community of Health for physicians, hospitals and post-acute organizations.
Axial’s products improve the quality of patient care, and reduce the cost of providing it, by credentialing the most qualified providers, delivering point of care decision support tools, and utilizing a 360-degree cloud-based predictive model to stratify risk and quantify outcomes. Axial furthers the IHI Triple Aim of driving healthcare value by developing cost-effective, quality-based treatment pathways combined with seamless IT and workflow integration.
TEKsystems, a provider of IT staffing solutions, IT talent management expertise and IT services, releases the results of a survey that explored the current state of business intelligence (BI) system deployments among healthcare organizations. The research, released in advance of HIMSS14, explores many of the concepts serving as central themes to the annual event, including clinical analytics and BI, as well as data interoperability. Despite the acknowledged benefits that healthcare organizations would realize, the study finds that the vast majority have yet to implement a BI system.
The survey, conducted on behalf of TEKsystems’ Healthcare Services division, represents views of more than 250 healthcare professionals, including senior-level health IT executives and medical staff such as CIOs, directors of information systems and clinical informatics, physicians, and chief nursing officers. Respondents represent a wide cross section of healthcare organizations including hospitals, medical clinics, ambulatory care centers and integrated delivery systems.
Key highlights from the survey include:
Business Intelligence System Implementation Lags
More than half of all healthcare organizations have yet to implement a BI system. Fifty-eight percent of those surveyed indicated that their organization has not implemented a BI system. This number is includes the 36 percent that simply do not have a BI system, 15 percent that do not have such a system but plan to implement one in the next 12 to 24 months and 7 percent that have a BI system but have yet to implement it. Forty-two percent of respondents have implemented and are currently using a BI system.
Finance, operations and clinical care top areas for planned use. Nearly three-quarters of respondents indicated they expected a BI system to be widely used in finance (76 percent), operations (75 percent) and clinical care (71 percent). Interestingly, about half (53 percent), expected it to be widely used for compliance.
Healthcare IT professionals’ greatest concern around mobile health technologies is the potential of a breach of patient data, according to a recent survey of HIMSS14 attendees conducted by Axway, a market leader in governing the flow of data.