A 2013 HIMSS Conference Preview

The Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society Conference - the largest event of the year focused on health IT issues - will offer an array of educational content on privacy and security topics and a broad range of other issues.

This year's event, to be held March 3-7 in New Orleans, is expected to draw as many as 35,000 attendees and about 1,200 exhibitors.

Among the keynote speakers is former President Bill Clinton, who will be featured at 1 p.m. Wednesday, March 6. Another keynoter is Farzad Mostashari, who heads the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT within the Department of Health and Human Services. ONC coordinates the HITECH Act electronic health record incentive program. His presentation is slated for 8:30 a.m. Thursday, March 7.

The conference kicks off with an all-day March 3 workshop on how to prepare for an HHS Office for Civil Rights HIPAA compliance audit. The workshop will be moderated by security consultant Tom Walsh and Lisa Gallagher of HIMSS.

Also on March 3, the College of Health Information Management Executives is hosting an all-day CIO forum, which will include a session related to trust in healthcare hosted by author Stephen Covey.

Federal Sessions

Mostashari and other ONC leaders, including Joy Pritts, chief privacy officer, will host a town hall meeting at 12:15 p.m. Monday, March 4. They'll offer updates on ONC's programs and describe plans to advance the national health IT agenda. ONC officials say they plan to engage the audience in "an open dialog and solicit input regarding critical next steps in our efforts to build health IT as the foundation for the three part-aim of improved health, better quality and lower costs."

ONC also will host a "listening session" on health information exchange governance issues at 10 a.m. on Tuesday, March 5.

Leon Rodriguez, director of the HHS Office for Civil Rights, will discuss HIPAA Omnibus Rule compliance and other issues in a session at 9:45 a.m. March 4.

Two other OCR officials, Susan McAndrew and David Holtzman, will provide an update on the HIPAA compliance audit program in a session at 1 p.m. Tuesday, March 5.

A full listing of sessions involving federal agencies can be found on the HIMSS Conference website.

Security Focus

Among many other sessions that will address privacy and security issues are:

• "Managing Privacy and Security Challenges of Patient EHR Portals," featuring Adam Greene of the law firm Davis Wright Tremaine and Jacki Monson of Mayo Clinic, 9:45 a.m. March 4;
• "Hacking Your Life," with David Kennedy, founder and principal security consultant of TrustedSec LLC, 9:45 a.m. March 5;
• "Extra Sensitive PHI: Appropriate Sharing Using Data Segmentation," featuring Scott Weinstein of ONC and Jonathan Coleman, principal of Security Risk Solutions, 2:15 p.m. March 5.

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