Symposium Attracts Record Crowd and Record Tweeters
AMIA’s 35th Annual Symposium last week was a success for the organization, its members, exhibitors and non-member attendees. AMIA broke its previous attendance record as 2,200 people (excluding exhibitors) were onsite, many of whom enjoyed sharing highlights and thoughts about the meeting via Twitter. AMIA member Kevin A. Clauson, PharmD, notified staff that he counted 237 tweeters who produced 1,500 tweets throughout the five-day event. Wow! Thanks to everyone who shared news about our meeting. Click here to view the Twitter feed. Here’s a list of other links that review highlights of the Symposium:
Scientists from around the globe submitted thought-provoking, interesting posters to the Symposium. A committee of experts selected the following as the winning entries:
- “A Randomized Controlled Trial of a Computerized Asthma Management System in a Pediatric Emergency Department,” by J. Dexheimer, D. Arnold, K. Johnson, Y. Shyr, N. Patel, T. Abramo, D. Aronsky, Vanderbilt University.
- “Evaluation of a Sign-out Checklist Tool to Support Individual and Team Task Management in an Electronic Health Record,” by D. Stein, S. Bakken, P. Stetson, Columbia University Medical Center; D. Vawdrey, Columbia University.
- “Linguistic Differences of Depressed Patients in an Online Health Forum,” B. Chee, PatientsLikeMe.
- “TrANEMap: a Fast Tree-based Named-Entity Recognition Engine,” by J. McCart, J. Jarman, James A. Haley Veterans Hospital; M. Matheny, Vanderbilt University.
- “Collaborative Knowledge Acquisition by Eye Tracking for the Design of Context-Aware Alert Systems: a Feasibility Study,” E. Joffe, O. Havakuk, Tel Aviv Medical Center; V. Patel, UTHealth.
- “Evaluation of Medication Alerts for Compliance With Human Factors Principles: a Multi-Center Study,” by M. Zachariah, S. Phansalkar, Partners HealthCare and Brigham & Women’s Hospital; H. Seidling, University of Heidelberg and University Hospitals of Geneva; L. Volk, Partners HealthCare; M. Bloomrosen, AMIA; D. Bates, Partners HealthCare and Brigham & Women’s Hospital.
- “Coverage of Manual De-identification on VA Clinical Documents,” by S. Shen, B. South, University of Utah & VA Salt Lake City Health Care; J. Friedlin, Regenstrief, S. Meystre, VA Salt Lake City Health Care.
In other Symposium news, a Good Samaritan found a camera Sunday, Oct. 23, 2011, in Rock Creek Park that contained pictures snapped during two Symposium sessions. Please contact Ceira Blount at ceira@amia.org if the camera belongs to you.
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10x10 Registration Nets Free One-year Membership to AMIA
Update your knowledge on the analysis, modeling, standardization, development and deployment of EHRs and the safe exchange of patient data by taking the University of Minnesota School of Nursing 10x10 course beginning Jan. 9, 2012. The course is designed to provide a generic overview of nursing and health informatics, and the specific application of information and communication technologies in the clinical area. Register now and you will receive a complimentary AMIA membership for 2012, which includes access to JAMIA. Registration also entitles you to claim ANCC and/or MBN credits, and attendance at the in-person course session during the AMIA 2012 Symposium in Chicago.
Also available through the 10x10 program:
- 10x10 with OHSU – course begins Nov. 30.
- 10x10 with The Ohio State University – course begins Jan. 6, 2012.
Register for any of these courses and also view full course descriptions, which describe the content of the courses and the differences among them, by clicking here.
New JAMIA Paper on the Future of Health IT Innovation and Informatics
"The Future of Health IT Innovation and Informatics," the final report from AMIA's 5th Annual Invitational Policy Conference, has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Informatics Association ( JAMIA). The paper addresses the long-term effects that extant public policies may have on health IT system resilience, innovation and related ethical, social/legal issues. It also encourages public and private sector organizations to consider developing a national strategy to ensure that health IT innovation and resilience are not impeded by shorter-term efforts to implement current approaches emphasizing adoption and meaningful use of electronic health records. Click here for more information about the meeting and a link to the final report.
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AMIA Submits Comments to HHS on the Common Rule
AMIA recently submitted comments to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) in response to the advanced notice of proposed rulemaking (ANPRM) regarding "Human Subject Research Protections: Enhancing Protections for Research Subjects and Reducing Burden, Delay, and Ambiguity for Investigators" (aka "the Common Rule"). While AMIA is pleased with many of the proposals discussed in the ANPRM, the association remains concerned that many Common Rule-regulated institutions continue to expand the use of Institutional Review Boards (IRBs) as regulatory compliance offices. In the comments, AMIA President Ted Shortliffe urged HHS to clarify the role of the IRB as a scientific and ethics review body that should be focused on protecting the rights and welfare of human subjects, rather than the legal and regulatory obligations of the host institution. Click here to access the comments and the original ANPRM.
AMIA Hosts Policy-Related Sessions at Annual Symposium
AMIA policy leadership and staff hosted two policy related sessions at AMIA's 35th Annual Symposium. The first session, "Policy 101: What Public Policy Is and How to Help Shape It," gave attendees information about the processes of health policy development and implementation, along with an overview of federal regulatory programs that impact the healthcare industry and informatics. The second session featured a panel focused on the strategic and policy implications of unintended consequences (UCs) of health IT and health information exchanges. Panelists considered where national policy developments and other actions could help prevent UCs from occurring or mitigate the impact if they did. Click here for links to more information and the slide presentations from each session.
NIH Webinar on New Funding Opportunities
On Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 1 pm EST, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director’s High Risk-High Reward (HRHR) program will offer an informational webinar to discuss questions about new funding opportunity announcements (FOAs) for the HRHR program, and specifically for the Transformative Research Award, which is open until Jan. 12, 2012. The HRHR program was created to test new ways of stimulating the biomedical workforce by providing support for highly creative researchers and ideas that have the potential to fundamentally change the way we think about and conduct biomedical research. Click here for more information about the program and how to join the webinar. Back to top
The Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology’s (ONC) Office of the Chief Privacy Officer plans to perform a project using a qualitative data collection approach to obtain in-depth information from mHealth users regarding privacy and security concerns and perspectives on potential safeguards. The project will feature a series of focus groups in a variety of geographic regions to look at the attitudes and perspectives of individuals across different populations. Click here for more information on this and other related ONC initiatives. Back to top
Committee on Patient Safety and HIT to Release Report
The Committee on Patient Safety and Health IT will release its report Nov. 10 at 10:30 a.m. The public release will be held at the Keck Building, located at 500 Fifth St., NW, Washington, DC 20001. Pre-registration is required to attend. For more information, click here.
In an e-mail message to members on Nov. 3, AMIA President and CEO Ted Shortliffe announced that he has informed the Board of Directors of his intention to step down in 2012. Expressing his enthusiasm for AMIA and its growing influence and visibility, but citing his desire to pursue other interests as the end of his third year with AMIA approaches, Dr. Shortliffe will continue to serve the association and to assist with the transition while the Board initiates a search for his successor.
Software applications designed to help researchers, healthcare professionals and the lay public locate scientific and medical information are among the winners of the National Library of Medicine’s first software development challenge. The successful applications range in purpose from helping the public learn about anatomy to guiding researchers in their quest to find gene information in literature. Click here to learn more about the winners.
Harvard School of Public Health selected AMIA member Tejal Gandhi, MD, MPH, to serve as program director for its Leadership Strategies for Information Technology in Health Care.
Dr. Gandhi joins John Glaser, PhD, John Halamka, MD, and Blackford Middleton, MD, MPH, MSc, in designing and directing the program, which brings together health care executives to advance health it strategy.
Dec. 6
JAMIA Journal Club Webinar, 3 p.m. ET
Dec. 16
Joint Summits Journal Submissions deadline
Jan. 9
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