By Natalie Slodowy, IntelliSuite Technologies
The 2008 North America Connectathon took place last week in Chicago, with over 75 organizations taking part, testing more than 140 healthcare IT systems.
The event featured a one-day conference on Tuesday of last week, which provided an overview of IHE (Integrating Healthcare Enterprise) initiative, advice on implementing interoperable systems, and information on national and regional health information exchange projects in North America.
The IHE is an initiative led by healthcare professionals and industry to improve the way computer systems in healthcare share information. IHE provides a detailed implementation and testing process to promote the adoption of standards-based interoperability by vendors and users of healthcare information systems. The process culminated in the Connectathon, a weeklong interoperability-testing event.
Conference attendees included executives of provider organizations, executives of healthcare IT and equipment companies, and leaders of organizations and government agencies involved in the deployment of electronic health record systems and health information exchange.
Highlights of the week included a discussion on the future hope of national, government subsidized EHR deployments, led in part by LeRoy Jones of the Healthcare Information Technology panel, with the culminating event being actual hands-on interoperability testing by attendees of over 140 HIT technologies. Profiles tested included:
- Cardiology
- IT Infrastructure
- Laboratory Technologies
- Patient Care Coordination
- Patient Care Devices
- Quality Assurance Programs
- Radiology Technology
This was the second annual Connectathon, sponsored in part by HIMSS, and proved to have another successful turnout of leading HIT executives, engineers, and prominent healthcare administrators. For more information on this and future events, visit IHE.net and HIMSS.org.
The Connectathon is required preparation for participants in the Interoperability Showcase taking place at the HIMSS 2008 Annual Conference & Exhibition in Orlando, Florida, on February 24-28. Be sure to visit representatives from IntelliSuite Technologies and many of our partners at this exciting upcoming conference!