At the Becker's Hospital Review CIO Strategy Roundtable in Chicago on Nov. 5, a panel of industry experts discussed some of the major issues surrounding health information technology and their greatest priorities going forward.
Panel speakers included Tim Moore, senior vice president and CIO of Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, Calif.; Nayan D. Patel, director of information technology of The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano (Texas); Phyllis Teater, CIO and associate vice president of health services at The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center in Columbus; Lynne Thomas Gordon, CEO of the Chicago-based American Health Information Management Association; and Mary Alice Annecharico, senior vice president and CIO of Detroit-based Henry Ford Health System.
For most of the panelists, information governance was highlighted as one of the most major areas of importance for hospitals and health systems to consider.
"We at AHIMA don't think you can do a good job with data analytics, applied informatics or really big data unless you have information governance," said Ms. Thomas Gordon. "You have to have information that can be trusted, and the way you do that is through information governance."
The Heart Hospital Baylor Plano also recognizes the importance of information governance and is focusing on putting together a framework for the hospital's enterprise data warehouse, integrating data and putting into place a data governance committee, according to Mr. Patel.
Building off of data governance, other panelists discussed the use of practice variation data, building a governance model that accommodates integration of various billing systems and EMR systems, and needs-based mapping of data.
Areas of advancement and investment in health information technology were also discussed by the panelists.
Mr. Moore described a cutting-edge, dynamic dashboard in the works, of which Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian is a development partner. The tool is a patient "storm tracker" that allows the hospital to monitor patients in such a way that patient profiles can be generated and predicted.
Meanwhile, Ms. Teater expressed enthusiasm regarding technology that will be used at the Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center's soon-to-be-open James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute, including tablets with a module that allows physicians to interact within an inpatient environment and connect to the Internet.
The panelists also discussed some of the biggest projects and challenges the CIOs are faced with, such as transitions of care, Epic optimization, patient engagement and launching new digital strategies.
Henry Ford is also tackling issues common to many other hospitals and health systems.
"For Henry Ford, we're still going to deal with all the same things everyone else is dealing with, [including] cybersecurity," said Ms. Annecharico. "As we really take a look thoughtfully at how we engage all of our workforce in owning privacy and security, we're going to have some blips and breaches. So that's a huge area of opportunity for Henry Ford."
Despite the challenges facing CIOs, all of the panelists expressed optimism and excitement regarding the future of healthcare.