Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/610563
disruption phase, led by innovation, con- sumer interest and efforts to democratize access through applications and services such as Pager and Teladoc. Lows: Our industry certainly has had its chal- lenges this year. In particular, healthcare has become a major cybersecurity target and, consequently, the ability to safeguard electronic information and systems has become a major priority to ensure patient confidentiality and to pro- tect company assets. Given the complex- ity of technology services and devices that require protection, it has become a costly and time-consuming process to stay head of hackers. In addition, shrink- ing healthcare revenue and reimburse- ments for providers has put tremendous pressure on IT budgets. Praveen Chopra Executive Vice President and Chief Information and Transformative Innovative Environment Officer of Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health (Philadelphia) Highs: It has been a very exciting year. Dr. Klas- ko, [Thomas Jefferson University and Jef- ferson Health's president and CEO], has said innovation is our future. Innovation is now a new pillar of our business and we are creating momentum as we speak. We have created the Jefferson Accelera- tor Zone, which is the "command central" for the incubation of new ideas by inno- vators within and outside of Jefferson. We are launching our first hackathon in a few weeks, where students and profes- sionals will come together to dream up solutions to real world healthcare prob- lems related to reducing readmissions, drone-based healthcare delivery and wearables. One of the ideas we have focused on this year is telehealth. It started with addressing a problem. Patients want care to start where they are, but they can't always physically get to us. So, we started experimenting. We launched an on-de- mand platform and app, now available in the Apple and Google Play stores, whereby any patient can go and request a physician appointment. That physician will be quickly available through video conferencing capability. We made this available to all employees, and trained our physicians to take telehealth calls. In the first month alone, we had 1,500 app downloads. We also created a program for family members of our patients who are not able to be at the hospital to participate in physician rounds. The program, known as Virtual Rounds, allows a patient's loved ones to join a video conference and listen to the care team so the experi- ence is personal and convenient. When it comes to innovation in data, we are creating a Center for Health Insights Management. This center is looking at a number of questions: How do we collect all of this data? How do we make big data meaningful data? How do we take this data to outside partners? I see this center as a hub for creative collaboration to turn massive amounts of health data into meaningful and actionable insights to make the business of health smarter. Lows: The demand is too high. For the last few years, everyone was thinking about how important IT is, but the C-suite now really understands if they don't figure it out, they will lose the race. IT used to focus on incident management and "break fix" thinking. We have underinvested in how technology ought to be used to drive the future of healthcare. With reimbursement pressure, you have to be creative to get what you want as a CIO. When you are in a situation of scarcity, you become cre- ative. How do you turn a low point into a high point? Innovation and transforma- tion are keys to evolving the healthcare model. Randy Davis CIO of CGH Medical Center (Sterling, Ill.) Highs: There has been a concerted effort to achieve interop- erability, such as efforts made in document retrieval using the CommonWell Alliance between vendors. While it's not proper to call it interoperability, it's still a start. We've also made strides in creating tools to better evaluate clinical and financial data points. HIMSS was overflowing with vendors in this market this year. Additionally, EHR vendors are finally embracing the accommoda- tion of mobile devices in the hospital. And, we're seeing a big upswing in the utilization of teleservices as they were once envisioned. For example, e-ICU, e-mental health and e-stroke services to rural locations are being improved. In a rare display of forethought, federal and state funding of last-mile fiber to outlying medical facilities, schools and govern- mental entities are paying dividends in our ability to extend services to those locations. On the leadership side, the need for investment in data and network security has finally hit the executive suite and boardroom, and it is translating to real action. Another high would be the continued effort and commitment to excellence I see and hear every day from fellow CIOs, from the people who toil, largely unrecognized, in the healthcare IT field to make it all work. I never cease to be amazed by what they accomplish. Lows: We've now come to the realization that meaningful use dollars didn't stay with hospitals. It should have been named "The Payment Transfer; Vendor Entrench- ment and Barrier to EHR Marketplace Act." Should we have been surprised Congress got it wrong again? They should have legislated true interoperabil- ity first, meaningful use second. Con- gress has effectively constrained the free market by their actions, not encouraged it. And now vendors are trying to hijack the definition of the word "interoperabil- ity" as they figure out how to minimally share documents while convincing Con- gress they're getting interoperability. Cybersecurity remains a huge issue. Medical device manufacturers still as a group are making inadequate invest- ments to assure their devices are not susceptible to malicious intent. Many in the health IT industry will admit there's only a small chance of preventing data breaches to a determined and compe- tent adversary, despite our generous investments to prevent just that. Here's a high, or maybe a low: Have you just stood back and absorbed how many vendors are at the annual HIMSS conference and how much money it must take in our business to support all these folks? 27 2015 YEAR REVIEW in