e-News July 14, 2011

July 14, 2011

July 2011 VOL 3 ISSUE 27


AMIA Education/Events Submit Your Proposal to Summit on CRI Editorial Assistance Available for Participants of NI 2012 10 X 10 Partners With UAB for Course on HIT and Delivery of Care	Policy & Government Affairs HRSA Webinar Offers Tips for Generating , Utilizing Quality Data Reports Using Health IT CMS Draft Rules Address Telehealth Pay, Clinical Quality Reports IOM to Host Workshop on Biosurveillance, Issues Report on Healthcare Systems Improvement Medicare Payment Commission Reports to Congress on Health Care Delivery Calendar	Member News AMIA Member Recognized for Outstanding Contributions to Nursing Consider Participating on Committee for CI Certification Examination JAMA Commentary on HIT and Patient Safety Authored by AMIA Members Identify Informatics Leaders Worthy of Signature Awards

Submit Your Proposal to Summit on CRI

The Scientific Program Committees (SPCs) for AMIA’s Joint Summits on Translational Science are eager to review exciting proposals that will comprise the next exciting event, scheduled for March 19-23, 2012, in San Francisco. The CRI Summit is scheduled for March 21-23, following the Summit on Translational Bioinformatics and ‘Bridge Day’ that joins the two meetings. Paper proposals may be submitted until Aug. 19, 2011, for either meeting. See the full call at www.amia.org/jointsummits2012/cri-call-participations

Submissions for panels and abstract presentations have an October 21, 2011 deadline.
CRI Program Committee Chair Michael Kahn, MD, PhD, Associate Professor of Pediatrics, and Biomedical Informatics, and Core Director of the Colorado Clinical and Translational Sciences Institute at University of Colorado, Denver, describes the content of anticipated submissions to the Summit on CRI:
"The AMIA CRI Summit is the only national conference devoted exclusively to showcasing leading-edge innovative methods and technologies that focus on accelerating all phases of translational science – including study of conceptual design and simulation, patient identification and recruitment, data collection, integration and visualization, and data analysis, dissemination and knowledge transfer."

Four comprehensive tracks place emphasis on how CRI scientists can share their work, develop new collaborations and identify potential avenues to advancement of discovery-driven health care:

Research and resource discovery, collaboration and sharing
Bedside to base pairs—from clinical observations to genetic discovery
Clinical care and clinical research work-flow integration
Emerging informatics platforms for integrated translational research

Manuscripts submitted for the CRI Summit can range between 5-10 (8.5 x 11 inch) pages and must include:

names, academic degree(s), affiliations, and locations (city, state, and country, if international) of all authors
an abstract of 125-150 words
A brief Introduction and Background, Methods, Results and Discussion
References and Illustrations (figures or tables) when necessary, which must fit within the page limits

Combine your attendance at CRI with attendance at the AMIA Translational Bioinformatics Summit, which meets immediately prior to the CRI Summit. The TBI Summit is a national forum that showcases innovations in translational bioinformatics. Details on the TBI Summit are online at www.amia.org/jointsummits2012. The Call for Proposals and submission details are online at www.amia.org/jointsummits2012/tbi-submission.

Editorial Assistance Available for Participants of NI 2012

First-time authors or non-native English speakers who wish to take advantage of editorial assistance available for proposal submissions for NI 2012 have a little more than two weeks to apply online; the deadline for applying for editorial assistance is July 31, 2011. This is a great opportunity to polish a proposal, meet a member of the NI 2012 Editorial Committee, and get a head-start on preparing for the 11th International Congress on Nursing Informatics, June 23-27, 2012, in Montreal. This triennial event is an exciting forum for nurses to generate and share information, knowledge and research; examine the impact of health IT on their profession; and gain insight into upcoming priorities and future directions in the expanding HIT-enabled environment they work in. Learn more at www.ni2012.org.
See the full call for participation at www.ni2012.org/submissions

10 X 10 Partners With UAB for Course on HIT and Delivery of Care

This week, the 10 X 10 spotlight is on:

10x10 with University of Alabama Birmingham (UAB) – Course begins August 25, 2011.
UAB announces the eighth offering of its 10x10 course focused on healthcare information technology and healthcare delivery. This course examines the role of information and communication technologies (ICT) in healthcare delivery, including their role in improving the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare delivery. It discusses the organizational (intra and inter-organizational) and financial context in planning, implementing, and evaluating healthcare ICT. The course also presents legal and ethical context for the management and use of healthcare ICT.

Also available through 10x10:

10x10 with Kansas University – Survey Course of the Field of Health Informatics – course begins August 29th!

10x10 with University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston – Healthcare Interface Design course – course began July 11, space is still available!

To view full course descriptions or to register for any of the above courses, please visit: www.amia.org/education/10x10-courses

HRSA Webinar Offers Tips for Generating , Utilizing Quality Data Reports Using Health IT

The federal Health Resource Services and Administration (HRSA) webinars are technical assistance webcasts for HRSA grantees and members of the safety-net community, featuring leading experts with hands-on experience from within the safety-net community, as well as speakers with various grantee experiences and federal expertise. The next webinar, scheduled for Friday, July 22, offers "Tips for Generating and Utilizing Quality Data Reports Using Health IT." Click here for additional information and to register.

CMS Draft Rules Address Telehealth Pay, Clinical Quality Reports

Under the CMS proposed rules released last week for physician payments in 2012, certain telehealth providers would qualify for Medicare reimbursement. A proposed rule states that telehealth services could qualify for reimbursement even if they are not the equivalent of an in-person office visit, but only if they demonstrate a "clinical benefit." CMS has not defined what a "clinical benefit" is. Click here for complete information.

CMS also released proposed rules for hospital payment policies. The two sets of proposed rules state that hospitals, critical access hospitals, and eligible professionals must continue to calculate clinical quality measures using electronic health record systems that have been certified under criteria for the meaningful use program, just as they did in 2011. Click here for complete information.

In addition, CMS is calling for participation in pilot programs next year that will test electronic reporting of clinical quality measures. For this and other CMS-related information click here for a recent CMS fact sheet.

IOM to Host Workshop on Biosurveillance, Issues Report on Healthcare Systems Improvement

The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is preparing to host a workshop to explore the information-sharing processes needed for the nation's integrated biosurveillance strategy. Objectives of the workshop include: illuminating innovative successful practices and values for information sharing; illustrating the value added in collaboration through scenarios that specify important and necessary information resources; and exploring approaches to developing an effective and sustainable concept of operations that includes guidelines and procedures, and performance measurement. The workshop will be held in Washington, DC, Sept. 8-9, 2011. Click here for more information.

As part of its Learning Health System series of workshops, the IOM’s Roundtable on Value & Science-Driven Health Care hosted a workshop jointly with the National Academy of Engineering on lessons from systems and operations engineering that could be applied to the organization, structure, and function of healthcare delivery, monitoring, and change processes. Participant discussions on the promise of, and actions necessary to implement engineering approaches to healthcare systems improvement are summarized in a report. For more information click here.

Medicare Payment Commission Reports to Congress on Health Care Delivery

The Medicare Payment Advisory Commission issued a report to Congress titled "Medicare and the Health Care Delivery System." The report includes chapters on Medicare payment accuracy, technical assistance, fee-for-service, care coordination, FQHC's, and private-sector payment rates. Click here for a copy of the entire report.

Consider Participating on Committee for CI Certification Examination

AMIA has been working hard to establish a subspecialty board examination in clinical informatics. The American Board of Preventive Medicine (ABPM) proposed the subspecialty certification to the American Board of Medical Specialties (ABMS) successfully moving the proposal through the approval process. ABMS recently established a partnership with the American Board of Pathology, which has co-sponsored the proposal. Although the final vote on the CI subspecialty is not expected until the September, the ABPM has asked AMIA to forward names of potential members of a committee that will develop questions for the first board examination, which will likely be administered as a written test in Fall 2012. The two sponsoring boards will select the exam committee members, but they are grateful for suggestions from AMIA.

Therefore, AMIA is requesting self-nominations from members who would like to be considered for a position on the examination committee. AMIA cannot guarantee all nominees will be appointed to the committee by ABPM and ABP, but AMIA will forward up to 12 nominations to the sponsoring boards. If you are interested in serving on the question committee and guiding the criteria and metrics that are appropriate for board certification in Clinical Informatics, please send the following information to Jeff Williamson (jeff@amia.org) by July 22:

Your CV,
A statement of interest up to two pages long. Include a description of past work you have done in educational testing, question development, or professional education. This statement should also characterize your own expertise in clinical informatics.

All AMIA members who have expertise in applied clinical and/or public health informatics are eligible for service on this committee. Although ABMS subspecialty certification will be available only to board-certified physicians in a clinical specialty, examination committee members need not be physicians, if they have the pertinent expertise and experience.
Direct your questions to jeff@amia.org. Click here For more information.

AMIA Member Recognized for Outstanding Contributions to Nursing

AMIA and NIWG leadership are pleased to announce that AMIA member Patricia F. Brennan, RN, PhD, FAAN, has been selected to receive the Virginia K. Saba Nursing Informatics Leadership Award, one of two research awards presented by the Sigma Theta Tau International Honor Society of Nursing. The award will be presented at STTI’s 41st Biennial Convention, Oct. 29–Nov. 2, in Grapevine, Texas.

Dr. Brennan, University of Wisconsin School of Nursing, University of Wisconsin, served as AMIA President from 2000-2001. Current AMIA President & CEO Ted Shortliffe, recalls, "Patti is the first woman and the first nurse to lead AMIA during an important point in its development. As president, she served as the board chair and helped to strategically place informatics at the forefront of healthcare and AMIA as a thought leader in informatics."

"Nurses and other health care professionals nominate colleagues for these awards as a way to recognize professional excellence and personal commitment to making a significant contribution," said STTI President Karen H. Morin, DSN, RN, ANEF.

AMIA's Nursing Informatics Working Group nominated Dr. Brennan on behalf of AMIA for this prestigious award. Please join us in offering Patti our warmest congratulations.

Identify Informatics Leaders Worthy of Signature Awards

AMIA Signature Awards, a highlight of the Annual Symposium each fall, are intended to individuals whose work has embodied the innovative spirit of informatics and created lasting effects by transforming both the health care system and biomedical research. Signature Awards provide a path of recognition for the immeasurable talent AMIA’s membership holds by showcasing their rich history of achievement. AMIA seeks nominations for the following awards:

New Investigator Award;
Virginia K. Saba Informatics Award;
Don Eugene Detmer Award for Health Policy Contributions in Informatics;
Donald A.B. Lindberg Award for Innovation in Informatics.

Award recipients will be recognized at the Annual Symposium. Nominations should be submitted to Jeff Williamson, AMIA Vice President, Education and Academic Affairs, by e-mail to jeff@amia.org by Wed., July 20, 2011. For more information, click here.

JAMA Commentary on HIT and Patient Safety Authored by AMIA Members

The July 6, 2011 edition of JAMA (Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 306, No. 1) includes a commentary that addresses the "Application of Electronic Health Records to the Joint Commission’s 2011 National Patient Safety Goals". Authored by AMIA Members Ryan P. Radecki, MD, and Dean F. Sittig, PhD, the commentary discusses EHRs and related health information technologies and their promise to improve patient safety. The authors make the case that this promise remains largely unfulfilled.

Find the extract of the commentary here.

Subscribers of JAMA can link to the full text through the extract. A pdf of the article can be obtained by sending a request to Communications@amia.org with "Radecki-Sittig Commentary" in the subject line.