Unfortunately my travel plans for HIMSS have fallen victim to the ‘Beast From The East’ (a storm that has brought sub-zero Siberian temperatures from Siberia to us here in the UK and Ireland) and it’s been so hectic at 3GDoctor the past few days I’ve not had time to try and replan my cancelled flight schedules. Fortunately I’ve managed to convince/beg the brilliant Dr Chris Bickford MD to step into my conference-floor-pounding-shoes and provide some opinions and live updates from the world’s biggest Health IT Conference and Exhibition being held in Las Vegas.

Chris has done this before (for example at the brilliant Singularity Universities Exponential Medicine conference in San Diego) and is a super smart and caring Doctor so if you’re there at the HIMSS Conference and would like to be video interviewed by Dr Bickford for this post please either find him or comment below with your mobile number (it won’t be published) and we’ll arrange a meet up for you via SMS.

* * * Refresh this page to see live mHealth Insights from Dr Bickford MD * * *

Chris plans to attend the following Conference tracks that have a mHealth focus:

Monday 5 March (13:45pm Lando 4302): INTEGRATING DATA SOURCES TO SUPPORT CARE DELIVERY

Description: The advances in and availability of data from disparate sources create new opportunities and frontiers in care coordination for complex patients. These can range from mHealth/IoT applications which support real-time patient engagement to unstructured data associated with social determinants to data based upon genomic-screening. Developing an interoperable infrastructure that supports these use cases is a process that has already begun.

Learning Objectives: Classify the sources of data required to provide coordinated care in serving complex patients. Evaluate how new approaches to improving interoperability between stakeholders to support improved approaches in caring for complex patients. Describe the challenges in workflow integration for providers and payers when supported by an interoperable system which supports new data sources from disparate sources

Speakers include: Dan Chavez, Executive Director, San Diego Health Connect
and Edwin W Miller, CTO, Aledade.

Monday 5 March (14:00pm Lando 4401): THE JOURNEY TO MOBILITY

Description: This session will highlight the opportunities and challenges associated with patients generating their own health data and the role of nurses in facilitating these new technologies and data sources.

Learning Objectives: Discuss the role of nurses in training patients to use new mHealth technologies.  Outline current innovative uses of mHealth data.  Describe the state of the industry is in terms of mobile technology.

Speakers include: Victoria L Tiase, Director, Research Science, New York Presbyterian Hospital.

Tuesday 6 March (10:40am Bellini 2105/2106): CONNECTED HEALTH AND THE HUMAN ELEMENT: CREATING A BETTER HEALTH SYSTEM IN THE NEW MOBILE AGE

Description: As the number of older adults continues to grow, connected health technologies can help close the gap between patients and providers and enable individuals to remain vital, engaged and independent as we age. Social robots, artificial intelligence, vocal biomarkers and facial decoding will analyze emotion, anticipate health problems, improve quality of life, enable better relationships with healthcare providers, and address the neglected crisis of caregiving. So rather than deploying technologies like online communication, wearables and mobile apps in competition with human interaction, we must free up technology to do what it does well — capture and analyze data — and enable healthcare providers to focus on the human elements: caring, emotional intelligence and judgment. When we start using connected health technologies appropriately, we can create one-to-many care delivery models, and enhance and support human interaction between a healthcare provider and patient. The New Mobile Age, as described in Dr. Kvedar’s new book, is a busi.

Speakers include: Joe Kvedar, Vice President, Connected Health, Partners Connected Health.

Tuesday 6 March (11:30am Marcello 4405): IMAGINE A HOSPITAL WARD WITHOUT CODE BLUE ALARMS

Description: Can you imagine a hospital ward with no code blue alarms? This speaker has been leading the team at Hamilton Health Sciences to achieve an audacious goal: to improve hospital safety by eradicating in-hospital cardiac and respiratory arrests. Through clinical research in support of Early Warning Scores, it was found that in-hospital arrests are often preceded by a period of abnormal vital signs. “We believe that most cardiac arrests in an acute care setting should be considered a failure to rescue.” Hamilton Health Sciences (HHS) has been on a journey since 2010 to implement their modified early warning score. In 2016, HHS undertook work to make their Early Warning Score real-time with the use of mobile devices and an automation platform. This session will discuss Hamilton Health’s journey and their outstanding results!

Learning Objectives:  Explain the process Hamilton Health Sciences undertook to create a digital early warning score.  Assess the effectiveness of the early warning score at Hamilton Health Sciences.  Discuss the challenges – clinical, technical, human behavioural – encountered during the early warning project.  Identify the lessons learned during the stages of the Early Warning Project.  Describe the strategic roadmap for future uses and improvements of the early warning score.

Speakers include: Alison Fox-Robichaud, Director of Medical Education, Project Lead HEWS, Hamilton Health Sciences Centre

Tuesday 6 March (12:00pm Level 1,Hall G,Booth 11657 ): MOBILE STRATEGY FOR THE HOSPITAL OF THE FUTURE

Description: This presentation will explore the various applications of location services in a healthcare setting with a focus on mobile technology. Learn about the long- and short-term benefits of a mobile strategy that can improve the patient experience and optimize operational efficiency for hospitals.

Speakers include: Robert Tabb Senior Director of Sales, Phunware, Inc.

Tuesday 6 March (14:00pm Level 2,Bellini Meeting Room,Booth 8700): THE VIRTUAL WAITING ROOM

Description: The last thing congested patients want to encounter is a congested waiting room. Eliminate the wait and liberate your patients with QLess. Patients can join a virtual waiting room by phone call, text message, mobile app, your website, or via an on-site kiosk. Our patented forecasting algorithms ensure your patients’ time is optimized and no one is left idly waiting. #TheWaitIsOver

Speakers include: Evee Burgard, VP of Marketing, QLess

Tuesday 6 March (14:30am Venetian Convention Centre,Palazzo B): TRANSFORMING PATIENT EXPERIENCE WITH A MOBILE WAYFINDING PLATFORM

Description: Navigating and accessing large hospital systems can be difficult for patients. Piedmont Healthcare, a $3.5 billon, seven-hospital system in North Georgia developed a mobile wayfinding platform allowing patients to use smartphones to get from home, to the right parking garage, and step-by-step guidance to their destination to vastly improve patient experience and address additional patient experience challenges of the growing health system. This session discusses the best practices for developing a hospital-branded mobile app including prioritizing patient experience, leading with wayfinding to drive adoption, realizing clinical improvements with feature-rich content, and evaluating analytics for ROI.

Learning Objectives: Identify key objectives of a mobile platform to promote patient experience.  Identify clinical improvement opportunities such as access to care, decreasing missed appointments and staff interruptions that can be addressed with a mobile way finding solution.  Recognize way finding as a significant motivation to adopting a hospital’s mobile platform.  Demonstrate the value of one hospital-branded, mobile platform with feature-rich content and multiple patient engagement opportunities. Assess ROI and sustained engagement of a mobile app based on real time analytics.

Speakers include: Katie Logan Vice President, Experience Piedmont Healthcare, Piedmont Healthcare

Tuesday 6 March (16:00pm Bellini 8700): The New Mobile Age: Tech Extending the Healthspan

Description: The New Mobile Age, Dr. Kvedar’s latest book, describes how connected health technologies will enable individuals to remain vital, engaged and independent as we age, and create a better healthcare system for everyone. But it has to be the right technology, designed for an aging population, not just what technologists and app developers think people want. The New Mobile Age is a business model but, more so, it’s a new way of life.

Speakers include: Joe Kvedar, Vice President, Connected Health, Partners Connected Health.

Wednesday 7 March and Thursday 8 March (9:30-6:30pm Interoperability Showcase 11955 VA Area): VA MOBILE: A TOUR OF THE VA APP STORE

Description: VA is growing its VA App Store (mobile.va.gov/appstore), which today features more than 30 web and mobile apps. These online tools help Veterans with mental health, health and wellness, women’s health and other pressing topics. VA also has developed a number of mobile apps to provide VA clinical staff with access to real-time Veteran information to inform clinical decisions. This session will provide demonstrations of many of these apps and discuss VA’s plans for additional mobile development.

Speakers include: Shawn Hardenbrook, Director of Web & Mobile Solutions, US Department of Veterans Affairs

Wednesday 7 March (10:00-11:00am Venetian Convention Centre Murano 3304): EFFICACY OF MULTIMEDIA IN PATIENT-PHYSICIAN INTERACTIONS

Description: Traditionally, patient education has taken one of two forms: written brochures or orally communicated instructions. There is substantial literature that indicates neither approach is effective, due to the lack of information retention. This lack of retention is usually due to disengagement and disinterest in information presented in the form of brochures or due to the inability to recall and reference verbally communicated information. The first, brochures, is often provided with no explanation from a clinician and the latter, verbal dialogue, is commonly not documented and archived. In 2017, we initiated a study involving the participation of over 400 patients for the purpose of determining the efficacy of 3-D multi-media patient education enabled through mobile devices. This session will reveal major findings from our research, and provide recommendations for implementing an effective patient engagement program focused on improved physician-patient interaction.

Learning Objectives: Assess areas for improvement in the delivery of patient education as a technique in addressing patient engagement needs.  Identify impacts of using integrated mobile computing devices for the delivery of multiple-media patient education in patient care.  Compare provider and patient perspectives about multi-media patient education content used during clinical consults (usability and value).  Apply concepts and lessons learned in the integration of multi-media patient education via mobile computing devices during provider-patient interactions.

Speakers include: Nick Patel Executive Medical Director, Palmetto Health-USC MG, Benjamin Schooley, Assistant Professor/Integrated Information Technology, University of South Carolina and Lakisha McNeil, Ambulatory Registered Nurse Case Manager, Palmetto Health.

Wednesday 7 March (10:00-10:50am Venetian Convention Centre Level 1 Casanova Booth 14000): HELPING TO EXPAND THE SCOPE/DELIVERY OF POP HEALTH

Description: There are many components to defining and delivering Population Health and Improvement. There are many new players and delivery options available. Through customer and industry use cases and examples, I will review how MicroStrategy is helping its customers improve the health and wellbeing of the communities and constituents they serve with improved insights and actions via Advanced and Predictive Analytics, Mobility, and innovative IoT and Security solutions. Come see and hear how to be involve

Speakers include:  Erik Senior, Sales Engineer, MicroStrategy

Wednesday 7 March (10:30-10:50am Venetian Convention Centre, Level 2, Bellini Meeting Room, Booth 8700): CAN YOU HEAL ME NOW? VOICE IN HEALTHCARE

Description: Connected devices promise to make healthcare more efficient. But what of a growing pantheon of lifestyle devices including voice assistants like the Amazon Echo and Google Home? Why is voice a logical next step in the evolution of user experience? Attendees will see demonstrations of conversational agents across multiple web and mobile environments, and learn about real-world voice-first deployments of voice for outpatient education, home health, care management and clinical trial research.

Speakers include:  Nathan Treloar President/COO, Orbita, Inc

Wednesday 7 March (11:00-11:20am Venetian Convention Centre, Level 2, Bellini Meeting Room, Booth 8700): TEAM UP WITH PATIENTS FOR VALUE-BASED CARE SUCCESS

Description: Improving patient adherence and family engagement can lead to better health outcomes for your patients and financial outcomes for your organization. This session explores how putting mobile care management tools in patients’ hands allows clinicians to focus their efforts where they can have the most impact.

Speakers include:  Jennifer Bowers, Senior Clinical Strategist, Get Real Health 

Wednesday 7 March (12:30-12:50am Sands Level 1, Hall G, Booth 11657): WIRELESS, CONTINUOUS BLOOD PRESSURE & VITAL SIGNS

Description: Blood pressure (BP) monitoring is an essential component of patient care in both hospital and mobile health environment and is typically relegated to intermittent “spot check” arm cuffs, or invasive catheters which tether patients to machines. Challenges of current BP and Vitals monitoring, particularly in the hospital-setting, will be discussed. Development and future aspects of continuous non-invasive BP monitoring and wireless vital signs applications will be introduced.

Speakers include:  Younghoon Kwon MD, Cardiovascular and Critical Care Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia

Wednesday 7 March (13:30-13:50am Venetian Level 2, Bellini Meeting Room, Booth 8700): TAILORED CONVERSATIONS FOR CONSUMER ACTIVATIVATION

Description: Driving behavior change among healthcare consumers requires understanding how people use both language and technology to communicate and then leverage that understanding to effectively connect with them. This presentation highlights how mPulse Mobile’s solutions drive healthy behavior change through tailored and meaningful dialogue. Three case studies will be discussed.

Speakers include:  Chris Nicholson, CEO, mPulse Mobile

Wednesday 7 March (14:00-14:20pm Venetian Level 2, Veronese Meeting Room, Booth 8500): 4 DANGEROUS SECURITY HOLES IN YOUR MOBILITY POLICY

Description: Hackers know the easiest way to access and steal healthcare data is through mobile devices, as they are becoming ubiquitous among doctors, nurses and patients, and are always on and connected to the Internet. Sophisticated attacks and well-researched social engineering make any healthcare organization vulnerable to determined mobile attackers. Attend this session to learn about mobile security best practices and how to best secure both managed and unmanaged devices throughout your organization.

Speakers include:  Varun Kohli, Senior Director Strategic Market, Symantec Corporation

Wednesday 7 March (15:00-15:20pm Sands Level 1, Hall G, Booth 9900): HALO HEALTH SYSTEMS – SMART CLINICAL TRIALS

Description: Halo Health Systems is enabling creation of next generation clinical trials to reduce costs, provide greater operational efficiency and create higher levels of patient engagement. Halo Health Systems harnesses IoT and mobile technologies to create a flexible solution for pharma, clinical research organizations and clinical research institutes. halohealth.io

Speakers include:  V Mehta Co-Founder, Halo Health Systems

Wednesday 7 March (16:00-17:00pm Venetian Lando 4301): THE POWER OF HEALTH IT – PREDICT, PREVENT, INNOVATETHE POWER OF HEALTH IT – PREDICT, PREVENT, INNOVATE

Speakers include: Gary Horn, Vice President – Technical Services CTO & CISO, Advocate Health Care, and Tom Bradicich, Vice President and General Manager Servers and IoT Systems, Hewlett Packard Enterprise.

Wednesday 7 March (16:00-17:00pm Venetian Delfino 4002): CHIEF EXPERIENCE OFFICER: NEW LEADER DRIVING INNOVATION TO TRANSFORM HEALTHCARE

Speakers include: Sue Murphy, Chief Experience and Innovation Officer, University of Chicago Medicine

Wednesday 7 March (16:00-17:00pm Venetian Palazzo G): DIGITAL COMMAND CENTER FOR EHR IMPLEMENTATION

Speakers include: Matthew Ernst, Director Training Documentation & Support, Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health System  and Neil D. Gomes, Chief Digital Officer and SVP Tech. Innovation and Consumer Experience, Thomas Jefferson University and Jefferson Health System.

Thursday 8 March (08:30-09:30am Venetian Lando 4301): PUSH NOT PULL: USING DATA SCIENCE TO IMPROVE OR OPERATIONS

Speakers include: Ashley Walsh, Senior Financial Analyst, UCHealth  and  Sanjeev Agrawal, President and CMO, LeanTaas.

Thursday 8 March (08:30-09:30am Venetian Gallileo 904): IMPROVING FEBRILE INFANT CARE USING MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

Speakers include: Russell McCulloh, Assistant Professor, Children’s Mercy Hospital  and  Sarah Fouquet, Assistant Professor, Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Thursday 8 March (08:30-09:30am Venetian Gallileo 904): IMPROVING FEBRILE INFANT CARE USING MOBILE TECHNOLOGY

Speakers include: Russell McCulloh, Assistant Professor, Children’s Mercy Hospital  and  Sarah Fouquet, Assistant Professor, Children’s Mercy Hospital.

Thursday 8 March (11:30-12:30pm Venetian Palazzo B): HARVESTING WEARABLE DEVICE DATA

Speakers include: Ajay K. Mittal, Associate Director IT, American College of Cardiology

Thursday 8 March (12:00-12:20pm Sands Level 1 Hall G Booth 9900): DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION OF YOUR HEALTHCARE SYSTEM

Speakers include: Alan Winters, Head of US Business Development, MobiDev

Thursday 8 March (13:30-14:30pm Sands Interoperability Showcase 11955 Theatre): OFFICE OF CONNECTED CARE/TELEHEALTH

Speakers include: Kim Nazi, Blue Button Project Lead, Office of Connected Care, Veterans and Consumer Health Informatics U.S. Department,  Neil Evans, Chief Officer, Office of Connected Care, Department of Veterans Affairs  and  Shawn Hardenbrook, Director, Web & Mobile Solutions, US Department of Veterans Affairs.

Thursday 8 March (15:00-15:20pm Venetian Level 2 Bellini Meeting Room Booth 8700): HOW DATA FRAG. SLOWS ADOPTION – DIGITAL HEALTHCARE.

Speakers include: Mark Winter, Chief Executive Officer, Carespan USA, Inc

Thursday 8 March (16:00-17:00pm Venetian Marcelo 4405): MACHINE LEARNING AND BIG DATA TO DRIVE PATIENT ENGAGEMENT AND BETTER HEALTH OUTCOMES.

 Description: For many years, companies in the retail, telecom, insurance, and banking industries have used machine learning techniques to analyze terabytes of real-time data representing a wide range of customer interactions (across all channels), demographic characteristics, and lifestyle events. This session will explain how CIGNA has leveraged some of the machine learning techniques used to influence consumer behavior in other industries for their own purpose of influencing consumer behaviors towards lower medical costs and better healthcare outcomes. One example to be discussed is how they used a combination of claim data, demographic data, lab data, call center data, and click-stream data from web-interactions and mobile phone interactions to improve the timing, channel, and content they use to engage members with chronic conditions in coaching that lowers medical costs and improves healthcare outcomes for those patients.

Learning Objectives:  Recognize opportunities to use machine learning to increase patient/consumer engagement.  Analyze customer interaction data to identify ways to reduce total medical cost.  Apply machine learning and big data techniques to improve health outcomes for patients and customers.

Speakers include: Doug Melton, Senior Director of Customer Engagement and Experience Analytics, Cigna  and Christer A. Johnson, Principal, EY.

Friday 9 March (12:00-13:00pm Venetian Delfino 4004): USER-CENTERED DESIGN OF A MOBILE EPRESCRIPTION SERVICE.

Description: User-centered design, while already utilized in several technologically-focused industries, is a relatively new topic to the healthcare sector. We present the development steps of a mobile service that allow citizens of Veneto Region, Italy, to manage their drug prescription, dispensing and remote renewal request. A set of methods has been introduced to address users’ needs, co-design the mobile app and evaluate its usability. Despite the challenges faced, related in particular to the negotiation of design issues between users, technical team and developer, the mobile app resulted usable (95.4% of task completed) and perceived as user-friendly. The process also led to an early definition of a methodological and organizational framework for user-centered design of healthcare mobile solutions in Veneto Region.

Learning Objectives:  Analyze the user-centered design steps taken by the team.  Outline challenges you may face in a user-centered design process.  Influence usual development approach with user-centered design hints.

Speakers include:  Claudio Saccavini, Chief Information Officer, Arsenàl.It Consortium  and  Enrico Dal Pozzo, Anthropologist, ehealth service designer, Arsenàl.IT Consortium.