Health informatics conference to address emerging tech trends

A ground-breaking conference covering various aspects of health informatics will be held at the University of Southern Indiana from 8 a.m. until 4:15 p.m. Thursday, October 25 in the University Center. The fifth annual Health Informatics Tri-State Summit (HITS) will address emerging trends in the use of health information technology in direct patient care, consumer and patient engagement and will prepare health professionals to implement effective health informatics strategies in their individual professional practice and their organization.

The one-day event will be particularly relevant, to physicians, nurses, pharmacists, technologists, and others whose scope of practice is related to health informatics, including students, who can attend at a reduced rate.

This year's keynote speaker is Dr. Josh Luke, is a health care futurist, edutainer and national thought-leader and speaker on care coordination, population health management, readmission prevention and developing integrated post-acute networks. He is regarded as a "futurist" on value-based care and how it will shape the continuum of care. Luke has been described as an innovator, forward-thinking, and a strategist on teaching ACOs, BPCIs, acute hospitals and post-acute leaders how to position themselves for revenue growth in a post-ACA model.

Dr. Joyce Lee, a physician, researcher and designer, will close the conference, describing methods of design thinking, including participatory design with patients and caregivers. She is a Robert P. Kelch, MD research professor of pediatrics at the University of Michigan medical school and professor at the medical school and at the University of Michigan School of Public Health. Her work focuses on the development of learning health systems using the methods of clinical informatics, quality improvement and patient-centered participatory design.

The Health Informatics Tri-State Summit will feature six other speakers who will cover a variety of topics related to health informatics technology:

• Interoperability and role of Health Information Exchanges (HIEs)
• Cybersecurity and security challenges
• Nursing informatics: beginner, intermediate and advanced
• Telehealth's role in health informatics
• Patient portals and perceptions

The registration fee is $125, $100 for HIMSS members and $15 for students, if registering by October 12, 2018.

For more information about registration fees, visit USI.edu/health, call Outreach and Engagement at 812-464-1989 or email outreach@usi.edu.