HL7 FHIR for Executives (ACT-IAC MEMBERS ONLY)

HL7^® Fast Health Interoperability Resources (FHIR^®) for Executives (ACT-IAC MemberExclusive)

Course Overview 

The United States (U.S.) health care system has changed exponentially during the past decade due to efforts to abate unsustainable costs and ameliorate lackluster quality of care. A driving force for change was the financial incentives and disincentives of the HITECH Act which sought to improve the quality, safety, efficiency, and care coordination of health care through the “meaningful use” of electronic health records (EHRs).  Health IT adoption during this time rose from single digits to 96 percent adoption of certified health IT in non-federal acute care hospitals.  Now that most organizations have adopted health IT, there remains an imperative to optimize and improve present state systems to assure that the original goals of efficiency and care are met.   

The exchange of health information or interoperability – remains a challenge, even in the best situations.  The use of health IT standards has become a requirement for EHR systems as evidenced by federal regulations which identify standards necessary for quality care and to support interoperability.  One of these standards is the HL7^® FHIR^® Standard, which has opened a door to simplified design for sharing health data.  This course provides a foundational understanding of FHIR^® such that a healthcare executive can evaluate how best FHIR^® can support areas within their organization. 

Learning Objectives   

• Describe the present state of technology in health care as driven by government regulations, industry collaborations and innovation. 
• Compare the present state of U.S. health Information Technology (IT) with progress at your organization (e.g. electronic health record (EHR) in use, state of interoperability within and outside of the organization). 
• Summarize key benefits and situations which optimize the use of the HL7^® FHIR^® standard. 

• Compile a list of requirements from your facility that are based upon interpretation of the FHIR^® standard and how it can be used to optimize care. 
• Assemble a simple plan to utilize FHIR^® within your facility based upon real and/or example Scenarios/Use Cases. 

Date/Time:  January 17, 2020 at 10am

Parking: Use parking lot at ACT-IAC training facility. 

Equipment Required:  

• Laptop for participating in use cases and activities.  

Cost: 

• ACT-IAC Members: $295 for full course, includes lunch.   

CEUs/CLEs: 4 CEUs or CLEs 

Key areas of recent work related to the HL7® FHIR® standard include:  

• HL7® FHIR® Connectathons (in-person testing of FHIR® content required for standard maturity)  
• Project management for FHIR® Unique Device Identifier (UDI) content in the FHIR® U.S. Core Standard for Interoperability Implementation Guide (IG), which supports requirements of the 2015 Edition of EHR Certification 
• Project management for quality review, Virtual Connectathon, Working Group Meeting Connectathon for FHIR® Validated Healthcare Directory Implementation Guide Release 2 
• Management of creation of FHIR® Nutrition Order, including Proof of Concept presentations 

• Comment and ballot reconciliation for FHIR related ballots during the past six years of HL7 ballot cycles (3 ballot cycles/year). 

Agenda 

The course is broken up into 4 logical 1-hour segments starting at 10 am and ending at 3 pm with a working lunch which will be provided.   

• FHIR Evolution  
• State of Health IT and Interoperability 
• FHIR Benefits and Basics 
• Using FHIR 
• Example FHIR Scenarios 
• FHIR Scenarios & Use Cases 
• Requirements Gathering 
• Implementation Guide – or Not? 
• Next Steps for your Organization or Customers 

 Instructor Biography

John Forrester is a Program Manager with over 25 years of Health IT experience. John led the Federal Health Architecture Program for the Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC), Department of Defense Health Agency (DHA), Veteran’s Health Agency (VHA), Center for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) and Social Security Administration (SSA). In this role he administered several work groups around HL7® FHIR® implementations. He supported the development of an HL7® FHIR® Implementation Guide for the Validated Healthcare Provider Directory Resource. He managed the FHIR enablement of the Value Set Authority Center (VSAC) in support of the National Library of Medicine. Additionally, John oversaw activities around the Direct Exchange Protocol, The Trusted Exchange Framework Common Agreement (TEFCA) and the CONNECT Gateway.