HIMSS Preview

The Windy City Hosts HIMSS15

By Heather Hogstrom

This year’s conference and exhibition will head to HIMSS’ hometown of Chicago, taking place April 12-16. Offering plenty of opportunities to network, the conference will open with a speakeasy where attendees can mingle and enjoy refreshments and live music reminiscent of the Prohibition era.

Speakers include former President George W. Bush; Alex Gourlay, president of Walgreens, who will discuss the company’s approach to adopting technology; Bruce D. Broussard, president and CEO of Humana, who will discuss how future health care innovations will be driven by consumer demand; and Jeremy Gutsche, founder of Trendhunter.com and author of Exploiting Chaos, who will offer a new outlook on innovation, disruption, and adaptation.

The conference features several new offerings, providing education on current issues. Debuting this year are the following:

• HX360: This inaugural event will highlight technology innovation and how adoption of these technologies can improve health care delivery. The General Program, which is open to all attendees, will encourage collaboration to solve challenges in clinical workflow, care coordination, and patient experience, while the invitation-only Executive Program, focused on senior executives, will address technology adoption. The Innovation Pavilion will provide access and insight to the newest health technology.

• Revenue Cycle Solutions Summit: This discussion on revenue cycle management challenges and solutions will include topics such as patient engagement, analytics, clinical documentation strategies, mergers and acquisition, audits and denials, health care insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion, transitioning to value-based payment models, and collaboration and coordination between IT and finance.

• Cybersecurity Command Center: Attendees can test themselves on their cybersecurity knowledge; practice protecting a virtual hospital; get assistance with training, preparation, and response; and listen to sessions on security, data breaches, and medical data fraud.

• Disaster Preparedness Knowledge Center: Learn how to prepare for unexpected events such as hurricanes, terrorist attacks, or the spread of Ebola. Unique actions must be taken before, during, and after these various disasters and emergencies.

For more information and to register, visit www.himssconference.org.

— Heather Hogstrom is an editorial assistant at For The Record.