Medsphere.com - The Open Source EHR Meaningful Use Leader

2nd International mHealth Networking Conference

Sept. 8-9, 2010

mHealth Initiative Town & Country Resort Hotel (San Diego, Calif.)

Mobile phones are being transformed from forbidden gadgets to essential tools for healthcare, and healthcare enterprises must develop a clear strategy for wireless information exchange. Thousands of new applications have been created for healthcare use, and more are being added every day. mHealth, enabled by mobile phones and other wireless computing devices (mDevices), is the revolutionary adoption of new communi-cation patterns in healthcare that is stimulating the introduction of Participatory Health. Enabled by mHealth, Participatory Health is transforming healthcare from a physician- and hospital-centric system to one that seeks to connect and coordinate the roles of all health participants, including patients, the wide range of healthcare providers, payers, pharma, wellness providers, and more.

Medsphere University

Aug. 16-20, 2010

Clinical Reminder/Clinical Dialogues Training
Medsphere Headquarters (Carlsbad, Calif.)

Medsphere will conduct a week-long OpenVista train-the-trainer session for Medsphere customer partners Beauregard Memorial Hospital, Kern Medical Center, Memorial Hospital of Sweetwater County and Silver Hill Hospital. These group sessions afford Healthcare Open Source Ecosystem members the opportunity to share tips and best practices, in addition to learning various aspects of the OpenVista EHR system.

CMS: The Scoop on ARRA

Aug. 11, 2010: 2-3:30 PM EST

CMS Education Series for Providers on the Medicare and Medicaid Electronic Health Record (EHR) Incentive Programs
Virtual Event

EHR Incentive Programs for Hospitals: A session just for hospitals on the specifics about the Medicare & Medicaid EHR incentive program. The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services is hosting a free series of national provider calls addressing the specifics of the Medicare and Medicaid EHR incentive programs for hospitals and individual practitioners.

Learn what you need to participate in these incentive programs:

• Who is eligible
• How much are the incentives and how are they calculated
• What you need to do to get started
• When the program begins and other major milestones regarding participation and payment
• How to report on Meaningful Use measures
• Where to find helpful resources and more.

July 19-23, 2010

O’Reilly Open Source Convention (OSCON) 2010
Oregon Convention Center (Portland, Ore.)

LONGMAN—July 22, 2010: 11:30 AM (F151)

Best Care Anywhere author and New America Foundation senior research fellow Phillip Longman will present "The VA and VistA: A Role Model for Radical Improvement of Health Systems Everywhere." There is a global consensus that integrated electronic health records are essential to improving health outcomes, providing better quality of care, ensuring patient safety and reducing costs. Unfortunately, the healthcare software industry has yet to produce effective the clinical and administrative solutions that are desperately needed worldwide. The lesson for ARRA funding is pouring more money into the same approaches and solutions will continue to yield the same results. The VA stands out as a role model for how software can be developed and improved to create the kind of fundamental paradigm shift essential to catalyzing real change. Longman will explore how the VA used open, collaborative software development and improvement processes to drive clinical and cost improvement, and transform itself into one of the best managed health systems in the world. [Click on Longman Podcast to hear Longman in conversation with Medsphere COO Rick Jung on this topic.]

WHILES—July 22, 2010: 1:40 PM (F151)

Midland Memorial Hospital Director of Information Systems David Whiles, Medsphere Ecosystem Director Ben Mehling and FIS SVP K.S. Bhaskar will present an "Introduction to Open Source VistA EHR" on a panel that includes Joseph Dal Molin of e-cology corporation and WorldVistA. The VistA healthcare information system is in daily use at the largest healthcare system in the US, one repeatedly recognized for delivering some of the best care at the lowest cost. VistA is being increasingly adopted in the US and internationally. Join members of the open-source VistA community for an intro to the software, its history, and the current landscape of the ecosystem. [Click here for a news release describing OVID and this OSCON talk; here for OSCON page with panel details. Click on Mehling@OSCON to access Mehling's report from OSCON and the VistA presentation on Medsphere.org]

SOA in Healthcare

July 12-14, 2010

SOA in Healthcare: Improving Health through Technology: The role of SOA on the path to meaningful use
Westin Arlington Gateway (Arlington, Va.)

Sponsored by OMG^TM and Health Level Seven® International (HL7), this experientially focused SOA conference is targeted to an HIT-savvy audience and designed to highlight the challenges unique to healthcare organizations and emphasize cross-industry solutions that are viable within the healthcare domain.

HLNY Gala

June 16, 2010. 5:30 - 10 PM

Medsphere is one of the sponsors of the annual fund raising gala put on by the Healthcare Leaders of New York. Click on HLNY Gala to see the ad we put together for the event with Lutheran HealthCare. Click on Gala Registration to learn more about the event and register to attend.

Kizer, Longman to keynote VA GEC Conference

June 15-17, 2010

GEC 2010: Leading the Transformation to Patient-Centered Care
New Orleans Marriott Hotel (555 Canal Street, downtown New Orleans, La.)

June 15
8:25 AM—VA Healthcare expert Phillip Longman, a senior research fellow at the New America Foundation, delivers a keynote address on “Best Care Anywhere.”

June 16
8:25 AM—Medsphere Chairman Kenneth W. Kizer, MD, MPH delivers a keynote on "Predictable Challenges to VA Healthcare in the Next 10 Years"

GEC 2010 is presented by the Department of Veteran Affairs Employee Education System and the Office of Geriatrics and Extended Care (GEC), VACO, and hosted by VISN 16. Roughly 225 VA GEC leaders from across the nation are scheduled to attend this forum for national, regional and facility leaders to share knowledge, data, trends, analyses, insight and wisdom related to the provision, coordination, and management of geriatrics and extended care. More than 25 experts are scheduled to present at this National VA Geriatrics and Extended Care Conference, designed to help ensure the transformation to patient-centered care through presentation, discussion, and integration of GEC Strategic Planning, Cultural Transformation, Mental Health, Rural Health, telemedicine, Medical Home, Hospice and Palliative Care, Community Living Center, and State Veterans Home initiatives.

Longman to address BVARI Conference

June 11, 2010

VA Research Conference
Boston VA Research Institute (Boston, Mass.)

Phillip Longman will present his vision for the future of healthcare.

Doyle to address SDForum HIT Symposium

June 8, 2010: 8 AM-1:30 PM

SDForum HealthIT Symposium
Pillsbury Winthrop Shaw (Palo Alto, Calif.)

SDForum will hold its first-ever symposium on Healthcare information technology in partnership with IBM. Medsphere CEO Mike Doyle joins other executives speaking at the half-day symposium, which takes a critical look at the key issues and opportunities facing healthcare today as the industry struggles to catch up in its IT infrastructure and respond to new regulations.

Longman, Hays, to headline VistA meet; Mehling to intro OVID

June 8-11, 2010

21st VistA Community Meeting
Johnson Center at George Mason University (Fairfax, Va.)

Co-hosted by GMU's Centers for Health Information Technology and Discovery Science and Health Informatics, this is "the place to connect with people if you are serious about VistA." Highlights include:

June 8

11 AM—Best Care Anywhere author Phil Longman delivers keynote.

1:15 PM—Medsphere Ecosystem Director Ben Mehling presented "Medsphere.org Released." Click on Mehling Presentation-Day 1 to access the video.

June 9

10:45 AM and 11:30 AM—Mehling teams with Medsphere Senior Developer Andy Pardue to discuss "Extending the Platform," an intro to OVID, Medsphere's new OpenVista Interface Domain. Click on Mehling Presentation-Day 2 to access the video.

June 10

10:45 AM—Medsphere client Howard Hays, MD, MSPH, will discuss "IHS—Certification and Meaningful Use and Plans to Support These Efforts in Indian Country." A family physician and USPHS commissioned officer with more than two decades experience in the Indian Health Service, Hays has served since 2002 as a medical informatics consultant for IHS' Office of Information Technology, and since 2003 has directed IHS' national development and deployment effort for the Resource and Patient Management System, most recently as acting program manager (RPMS is IHS' EHR and closely related to VistA/OpenVista).

1:30 PM—VA CIO Roger Baker

June 11

9 AM—Mehling presents the "Medsphere Corporate Overview."

C-SPAN: Longman—'Best Care Anywhere'

May 29, 2010: 9:15 AM EST

C-SPAN: Washington Journal

Washington correspondent Libby Casey talks with Phillip Longman, author of Best Care Anywhere. Click on C-SPAN to learn more and access videotape of interview and call-ins, plus transcript.

Doyle, VCs, discuss 'Cloud' @MIT Enterprise Forum

May 19, 2010: 5-8 PM

San Diego MIT Enterprise Forum Meeting
Weiss Theater at La Jolla Playhouse (La Jolla, Calif.)

Concerro CEO Graham Barnes presents the case for "Workforce Management from the Cloud: When Will Software as a Solution be Embraced in Healthcare?" Medsphere CEO Mike Doyle is among the expert panelists who comment.

Peter Groen on Open Source VistA

April 15, 2010: 5:30–8 PM

National Capital Area (NCA) HIMSS Meeting
Key Bridge Marriott (Rosslyn, Va.)

In a talk entitled "Veterans Affairs VISTA as a Open Source EHR Alternative," VistA expert Peter Groen explores benefits and challenges of implementing “Open” VistA in comparison to commercial proprietary systems. Associate director of the Shepherd University Research Corporation, Groen retired in 2006 from the Veterans Health Administration after 33 years of federal service.

With the interim final rule for “meaningful use” now out in the public for comment, hospitals and other healthcare providers are gearing up to meet EHR eligibility criteria for ARRA incentive payments through the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. One less expensive and proven alternative to commercially developed proprietary electronic health record systems are ”open source” systems such as VistA. VistA is a comprehensive EHR system developed by the Veterans Administration for its 153 Medical facilities and related, outpatient clinics, and nursing homes across the country. The U.S. Indian Health Service (IHS) acquired and implemented a variation of VistA in a wide range of healthcare facilities serving Native Americans. Several other federal and state healthcare organizations are also using VistA to varying degrees, including DoD, HHS, state veterans homes, and a rising number of state government healthcare organizations. A number of companies (Medsphere, for one) have taken the source code for VistA and commercialized it as a lower-cost alternative to the many proprietary enterprise EMRs on the market.

Click here for an interview with Groen on open-source EHR by Modern Healthcare reporter Joe Conn.

HIMSS 2009

April 2009

HIMSS 2009 Conference
Chicago Convention Center (Chicago, Ill.)

Watch Medsphere CEO Mike Doyle, COO Rick Jung and a host of characters, Medspherian and not, discuss Medsphere, HIMSS and other topics on the Stimulus 1: Build the Bus video. Sense of humor required.