It’s May 2009. What do we see on the horizon for the rest of 2009 and beyond?

Focus is obviously one of the primary issues affecting the MEDITECH community. Do you stay with MAGIC or Client Server - or do you convert to Focus? International MUSE provides plenty of sessions on the subject. Additionally, our technical team will host sessions that provide insight into the Focus language and the new database. Stop by our booth #303 to learn more about our extensive Focus experience and future development plans.

The downturn in our economy is having global impact. At MUSE, we’ll host "Revenue Strategies for Tough Economic Times" and a session devoted to CMS Audits. We’ll also demonstrate IatriTRAC, a solution designed to address Recovery Audit Contractors (RAC). We’ve developed this information to help your organization protect and maximize its reimbursements.

Sharing data between organizations will continue to be an important challenge both for medical and political reasons. I’m proud to say the majority of business we do involves finding ways to share data between systems using the appropriate standards. I can’t emphasize enough our experience in this area. We install literally thousands of interfaces every year. Whether it’s exchanging data between MEDITECH and a third party vendor or sending data to a RHIO, our interface team provides practical and proven solutions. 

The flip side of sharing data, of course, is protecting it. Monitoring access to patients’ health information will become even more critical as greater emphasis is placed on interoperability. The public is also becoming aware that it’s important not just to react to privacy breaches but to become proactive in protecting patients’ health information. We’ve been at the forefront of helping hospitals proactively protect patients’ privacy and reduce the risk of internal security breaches. Check out our Security Audit Manager demonstrations to learn more.

We’re looking forward to addressing the challenges that lay ahead for all of us. The future certainly isn’t going to be dull!

Each year at International MUSE, we unveil new solutions and give attendees a sneak peek at what’s under development. Stop by our booth #303 to learn about our plans for the future, and don’t miss demonstrations of these exciting new solutions!

The Future of Patient Privacy
The US "HITECH Act" of 2009, signed into law by President Obama, expands the reach of HIPAA privacy and security requirements and calls for harsher penalties for violations. Courts also have the ability to award costs for the first time under the Act, making systems and procedures that ensure patients’ privacy more crucial than ever. Security Audit Manager can help. Security Audit Manager enables hospitals to monitor employee access to patient data proactively, thereby reducing the risk of internal security breaches and identity theft. Ken Hoffman, VP of Interfaces and Integration, will demonstrate Security Audit Manager at Iatric Systems’ booth on Thursday at 2:30pm and again on Friday at 2:30pm.

Interoperability
Sharing data between organizations will continue to be a key area of emphasis, as evidenced by the growing popularity of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs), Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs), Physician Office Integration (POI) and Personal Health Records (PHRs) like Google Health and Microsoft Vault. The recently enacted US Economic Stimulus Package sets aside $19.2 billion for healthcare IT in the US, much of which will be allocated to ensuring adoption EHRs and sharing them across organizations. Learn more about how Iatric Systems is improving interoperability at healthcare organizations across the US and Canada. Ken Hoffman, VP of Interfaces and Integration, will demonstrate HL7 EasyConnect and Physician Office Integration on Wednesday at 2:30pm and 3:30pm, respectively. Ken will repeat his Physician Office Integration demonstration on Thursday at 1:30pm.

Mobile Phlebotomy
For the second year in a row, MobiLab was ranked #1 in the KLAS "Specimen Collection Barcoding" segment as published in the December 2008 Top 20 Best in KLAS Awards report (www.KLASresearch.com 2008, KLAS Enterprises, LLC. All rights reserved). Howard County General Hospital’s MobiLab implementation was chosen as a finalist for Health Data Management magazine’s 2009 Nursing Information Technology Innovation Award. Find out why hospitals are choosing MobiLab over all other mobile phlebotomy solutions. Linda Trask, Manager of Laboratory Products, will demonstrate MobiLab on Thursday morning at 9:30 at Iatric Systems’ booth. Catch a repeat performance of this demonstration on Friday at 11:00am.

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805    Revenue Cycle - Beyond the Business Office
808    Advanced Techniques and Assorted Tips for C/S Report Writing
811    Magic Syntax for NPR Report Writing (Magic and C/S)