Symposium Spotlight: Meaningful Use
HIMSS13 pre-conference symposia and workshops invite a diverse and growing audience of professionals to participate in specialized and highly interactive education sessions in the days leading up to the Annual Conference. In this article, we take a look at the Meaningful Use Symposium: Transform MU from an IT Project to an Organizational Initiative, on Sunday, March 3.
This symposium will address the challenges of becoming a meaningful user, while also exploring success stories, and providing practical takeaways. Critical topics to be discussed by industry experts include Stage 1 meaningful use lessons learned, Stage 2 meaningful use challenges, preparing your organization for a meaningful use audit, transition to 2014, and more. After attending this program, attendees will be able to apply lessons learned from other Stage 1 meaningful users; identify the new challenges associated Stage 2 meaningful use and how to prepare your organization to overcome them; outline the steps necessary to prepare your organization for a meaningful use audit; describe 2014 certification requirements and discuss the implications; and analyze the future of meaningful use and its impact on your organization.
Liz Johnson, MS, FHIMSS, CPHIMS, RN-BC, who will a speaker at the Symposium, is excited for the “opportunity to network with health IT leaders across a complex set of care environments all working on achieving Meaningful Use and sharing ideas to make solutions smarter, faster and better.” Johnson adds: “Complex organizational initiatives are part of every health IT professional work responsibilities. The concepts utilized in achieving Meaningful Use can be reapplied in the diversity of other initiatives which we often are the driver, leader and catalyst for change.”
Speaker Robin Raiford, RN-BC, CPHIMS, FHIMSS, says the Symposium—and the HIMSS13 in general—is a great venue for tackling the wide scope of Meaningful Use. “It is helpful there is a ‘one-stop shop’ for discussion and networking about the same goals and challenges that someone can be facing in their organization. The Symposium is a perfect format and great opportunity to network with other Symposium attendees and speakers.”
Raiford hopes the Symposium leaves the attendees with an understanding of the greater accountability and change management strategies needed to achieve Stage 2 Meaningful Use. “Meaningful Use is the floor, and we are watching the ‘ceiling’ evolve as new innovations come in to play in addition to Meaningful Use. This is health IT transformation in the making—embrace the change! We have been talking about this forever, and now it is happening. That is exciting to be a part of.”
Visit the HIMSS13 website for more details on these and other sessions, and to register. Network with professionals with similar interests on Twitter: #MUS2 and #HIMSS13.