About the author: Rand Ragusa is co-founder and SVP of Business Development of Better Day™ Health, which is transforming clinical documentation and EHR workflow for providers.
Over 40,000 stakeholders from every corner of healthcare descended on Las Vegas the first week in March for the 2018 Healthcare Information Management Systems Society Conference (HIMSS) which is the largest health information and technology conference in the world. Tech giants like Salesforce, Amazon, Google and 1,300 other companies were pitching their version of the future of healthcare delivery and the push for dramatic improvements in sharing patient data.
This move to make improvements in health IT is happening in Southwest Louisiana. A presentation by Edwina Mallery, AVP of Information Systems, Lafayette General Health & Dr. Amanda Logue, CMIO, Lafayette General Health, outlined strategies for creating a regional network for sharing patient data to meet the increasing demands by patient for 24/7 easy access to their medical records online.
An example of regional data sharing across Acadiana:
Once again the leaders of the Louisiana Chapter of HIMSS kicked off the conference with another well-attended reception co-hosted with the Alabama and Mississippi chapters on Monday night at Margaritaville. The margaritas were flowing which helped fuel the crowds excitement about HIMSS-LA winning Small Chapter of the Year and their President Chad Cothern, RN winning Chapter Leader of the Year. Chad also gave a presentation on the profound work being done by the nursing IT community as the current Chairman of the HIMSS Nursing Informatics Committee.
On the medical front, a local case study on the development and execution of a Sepsis care program was given by Taylor Hargrave, RN, Infection Prevention Supervisor at Lafayette General Medical Center. The presentation was part of the HIMSS Nicholas E. Davies Award of Excellence which recognizes outstanding achievement of organizations who have utilized health IT to substantially improve patient outcomes while achieving return on investment.
HIMSS TV made its debut this year, the first online broadcasting network focused on global innovation, and how information and technology are driving change in healthcare. HIMSS TV featured Dr. Esteban Gershanik, CIO of Louisiana Department of Health, who shared his experience building partnerships at the state level and how those connections create policy and manage overall public health.
While individually these Louisiana influencers may not turn healthcare on its head, the collective participation are waking people up to the fact there is a better way of doing things and that if they don’t innovate, someone else will. Whether or not Louisiana companies will deliver true transformation in the future is still TBD, but they are absolutely providing motivation right now. And this is huge.
Past HIMSS articles on SiliconBayouNews.com:
2017 – Louisiana Women in Healthcare Shine at National IT Conference
2017 – Gulf Coast Health IT Execs Attend HIMSS GC3 Conferences in New Orleans
2016 – Annual HIMSS Conference Attracts Louisiana Health IT Industry