Description:
Numerous RHIOs have formed but relatively few have found a business model that works in their community. The successful business models have not been easily transferred to other communities. In the quest for obtaining financial sustainability, RHIOs are exploring a range of options for start-up capital, service offerings, and fee types. This session will address the current financial state of RHIOs, services that have been financially self-sustaining and new areas for funding that should be explored.

Speaker Information:
Kelly Cronin
Director, Office of Programs and Coordination, Office of National Coordinator for Health Information Technology, Department of Health and Human Services

Objectives:

• Review the state of RHIOs today
• Discuss the challenges RHIOS face in becoming financially self-sustainable
• Provide an overview of current funding sources including contract and grant opportunities from state and federal government
• Identify market forces that are influencing RHIO offerings
• Identify new areas to be explored and developed to enable RHIOS sustainability

Location:
Convention Center

Room:
206 A

Interested in registering for this symposium? Click here for more information.

Description:
This panel presentation will present specific RHIOs experiences with funding successes and discuss the unexpected sources and experiences realized. Topic areas discussed include organization stakeholders, challenges, lessons learned, solutions to challenges, state and national level opportunities for funding of RHIOS, as well as the not so traditional funding sources.

Speaker Information:
Mark Renfro
Executive Director, North East Florida Regional Health Organization
Carladenise Edwards, MSEd, PhD
Chief of Staff, Georgia Department of Community Health
Martin Hickey, MD
Senior VP Health Care Affairs, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield

Interested in registering for this symposium? Click here for more information.

Description:
The session addresses a framework for the overall financial plan, the products and services components, volumes, adoption rates and policy level issues for RHIO/HIE sustainability. It will also examine the eHealth Initiative tool for implementing a positive business and financial plan for RHIOs and HIES. Learn how to identify "direct" stakeholders for each "stage" of the HIEs development and their participation in planning, costs benefits and fees.

Speaker Information:
A. John Blair, III, MD
President and CEO, Taconic IPA, Inc.
John Mellin III, MBA
Program Manager, eHealth Initiative

Interested in registering for this symposium? Click here for more information.

Description:
Just as in welfare reform, many key states are true movers and shakers working collaboratively to push healthcare IT adoption, RHIO/HIE development and associated HIT legislative and regulatory reform efforts like HISPC. Indeed, many states, in their roles as guardians of the public's healthcare quality/safety and as managers of healthcare resources for very large at-risk patient populations, are putting significant financial, intellectual, technical and staff resources into these nascent HIT and RHIO/HIE efforts. Key state leaders are also working collaboratively through NASCIO, NACSL, the National Governors Association and other professional associations to drive change and to work on these issues as a nation, not just as individual states.

Speaker Information:
Teri Takai, MA
Chief Information Officer, State of California
Martin Hickey, MD
Senior VP Health Care Affairs, Excellus Blue Cross Blue Shield
Christopher Sullivan, PhD
Senior Management Analyst Administrator, Office of Health Information Technology, Florida Center for Health Information and Policy Analysis, Agency for Health Care Administration

Objectives:

• Examine the role of the states in opening up investment in HIT, eliminating legal, political and regulatory policy barriers to HIT adoption and to national, state, regional and local initiatives to provide efficient and effective interoperable healthcare information exchange.
• Explore the role of the states in working to solve technical and management challenges including provision of state-wide patient/provider identity management/record locator services for the RHIOs/HIEs.
• Learn about governance issues, business models (are they public/private utilities?) and sustainable financing challenges facing RHIO/HIEs and how the states are organizing to resolve them.

Interested in registering for this symposium? Click here for more information.

Description:
Establishment, implementation and enhancement of appropriate privacy and security practices at all stages of RHIO development are the cornerstones of creating and maintaining a trusted system for health information storage, retrieval, use and disposition. Although healthcare information privacy and security may raise issues peculiar to the context of information exchange, RHIO sponsors should not develop privacy and security programs that stray outside the mainstream of well-established privacy and security principles. As the pace of RHIO development increases, and as RHIOs mature, there is a need for systematic, informed approaches for regional efforts to address privacy and security programs, taking into account generally accepted privacy and security principles and the impending requirements for the establishment of broadly linked networks of networks as well as building on the efforts of others who have successfully met this challenge.

Speaker Information:
Deborah Lafky, MSIS, PhD, CISSP
Program Analyst, Office of Interoperability and Standards, ONC
Mark Mantooth, JD
Senior Counsel for Health Information Technology, Office of the General Counsel, Health and Human Services

Objectives:

• Understand healthcare privacy and security in the context of privacy and security principles of general application
• Examine processes that have been followed by regional efforts to address privacy and security decision-making
• Learn about resources for enhancing privacy and security decision-making
• Understand governments' interest and role in assisting regional efforts in addressing privacy and security

Interested in registering for this symposium? Click here for more information.

Description:
These are exciting but challenging times. During the past few years numerous RHIOs have been convening and planning. Some RHIOs have implemented HIE services, but most have not. RHIOS that have been planning are receiving pressure to implement data exchange to maintain creditability. RHIOs are at a critical crossroad, either to show real progress in becoming operational or having diminishing stakeholder support. There are real implications, not only for the longevity for each individual RHIO, but for the future success of the RHIO environment. This session will review the critical obstacles and challenges that must be overcome to obtain community supported health information exchange.

Speaker Information:
Teri Takai, MA
Chief Information Officer, State of California

Objectives:

• Identify the issues associated with developing trust among stakeholders including the general public and gaining the support and trust of competitors within the community
• Review the reasons why some RHIOs have failed
• Discuss the challenges of becoming self-sustainable including realigning incentives, identifying services that will enable financial solvency and defining the value proposition that will engage stakeholders to commit "skin in the game" and support data exchange
• Evaluate the future of RHIOs during the next several years

Interested in registering for this symposium? Click here for more information.