HIT Advocacy in 2016

http://www.himss.org/news/himss-chapter-advocacy

There are 22 HIMSS chapters who are holding advocacy events this year.  Key themes include: telemedicine, patient privacy and consent, automated prescription reporting, health IT jobs, and interoperability.

Our event, due to the Texas legislative schedule will be held on April 26, 2017.  

Contact Kristin Norton at austin.advocacy@himsschapter.org to learn more and to join our growing group of  Advocacy committee members and HIT Day volunteers from across Texas.

Your opinion counts!  We will poll the audience at the September 13th Lunch & Learn.

See the HIMSS national website (himss.org) for more information including:

Industry Leader Presentations
Federal Affairs Updates
Congressional Affairs Updates
State Advocacy Day Spotlights

Kristin H. Norton, PhD
Austin HIMSS Advocacy Chair
cell: 832-910-5168

Report -Success of the 2015 Texas State Legislative Visits

The 4th biannual Legislative Visit Day at the Texas Capitol was a huge success thanks to the many HIMSS, TxHIMA and CHIME volunteers who made it happen. Approximately 75 HIT (Health Information Technology) professionals worked in teams to meet with legislators or their office staff during 15 minute appointments to discuss telemedicine and HIT success stories and establish themselves as ‘go-to experts’ on follow-up HIT questions and concerns. In all, 135 offices were visited on February 18. HIMSS national supported this effort with four pre-visit orientations that prepared our volunteers to make the best impression during their appointments. Feedback from volunteers reflects that most offices visited appreciated our making the appointment and we were particularly well received because our only bias was toward what’s best in HIT for patient care. Since HIMSS and the volunteers took no position on any legislation, office staff members seemed to relax and be more open to understanding that HIT systems are helping improve patient care even though there are concerns about issues such as Meaningful Use, ICD-10 conversion and usability of EHRs. We were able to point out the accomplishments of our state’s two most recent HIMSS Davies award winners at Dallas Children’s and Texas Health Resources and our ‘leave behind’ material included summaries of their HIT achievements that have improved access to care and quality outcomes.  

This legislative visit day differed from those in the past in that it was scheduled in February and not January. So the legislators were in session, meeting space was tight and we couldn’t hold the afternoon educational event that many had come to expect.  In spite of excellent planning, the day did not go off flawlessly, but our recovery was very strong and the desired product was delivered. We apologize if you did not participate due to communication problems, but encourage you to get involved in ’17! The 135 offices visited were an increase in the prior number of 110, a tribute to the many phone calls and emails in the week prior to the visit that generated interest on the part of the legislative offices!  A number of our volunteers were first timers and to a person, they were very enthusiastic about their accomplishments as they readily understood that they are HIT experts and the legislators and their staff were appreciative of the opportunity for dialogue, information exchange and follow-up contact information.

Planning for the ’17 day at the Capitol has already begun and there are some ideas being kicked around for improvement: Create an app for the visit schedule to be viewed from phones, match up visitors with their legislators, and tighten up the visit schedules to reduce down-time between visits. One innovation from this year will likely be carried over; a master schedule was developed in a shared drive so that visit schedulers as well as office visitors could make appointment entries and obtain needed information without concern over version control. The planning team appreciates all the great work and coordination that was contributed by so many HIMSS volunteers in making this day a success!

Chuck Durant, MHA, FACHE 

Austin HIMSS Advocacy Chair

chuck_durant@hotmail.com | 512-656-8153

FY14 HIMSS Chapter Level of Advocacy Awards 

We are very proud and honored to announce that the Austin Texas Chapter has been awarded the 2014 Ambassador Level of Advocacy Award. This pretigeous award is presented to HIMSS Chapters that have demonstrated leadership and commitment to health IT advocacy.