ATLANTA, Dec. 15, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- The Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) has named Dominic H. Mack, MD, MBA, Executive Medical Director of the Georgia Health Information Technology Extension Center (GA-HITEC) and Director of the National Center of Primary Care at Morehouse School of Medicine, and Gary Palgon, Vice President of Healthcare and Life Sciences Solutions for Liaison Technologies, as speakers for the 2017 HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition. The conference will be held Sunday, Feb. 19 - Thursday, Feb. 23, in Orlando, Fla., at the Orange County Convention Center.
Dr. Mack and Mr. Palgon will present "MACRA Prep in Underserved Populations with Data-Centric HIE" on February 23 at 12:00 pm. The two subject matter experts will discuss how implementing a data-centric approach to rural HIE development, backed with education and technical support, can streamline the transition for rural practitioners to the new physician payment paradigm instituted by the Medicare Access and CHIP Reauthorization Act (MACRA) of 2015.
"With MACRA on the horizon, many providers are just beginning to understand the implications of this new payment paradigm," said Dr. Mack. "For large health systems and metropolitan networks, the transition will be enabled by ample financial, IT and educational resources. But, for rural and urban health providers serving medically underserved populations, the road looks more complicated."
According to Dr. Mack, GA-HITEC, through Georgia Health Connect, (GaHC), their regional HIE serving more than 4,000 PCPs and 56 Critical Access and Rural Hospitals in rural and underserved Georgia communities, along with Liaison Technologies, is already developing innovative plans to ease the transition. GA-HITEC is serving as a model of excellence for aiding small, independent practitioners in rural areas to cope with smaller budgets and lack of resources and IT expertise needed to make the MACRA transition.
"We are thrilled that GA-HITEC and Liaison will be able to share what we've learned about implementing MACRA and using the Liaison ALLOYÔ Platform to integrate all of the necessary data sources to meet the MACRA requirements and to provide better healthcare to rural communities," said Larry Mieldezis, Executive Vice President of Healthcare Operations for Liaison Technologies. "We are honored to speak at HIMSS and thrilled to be speaking alongside Georgia HITEC."
Both GA-HITEC and Liaison are member organizations of HIMSS, which advises stakeholders on IT best practices to improve the quality, safety, and cost-effectiveness of health and healthcare.
The HIMSS Annual Conference Education Committee (ACEC), chaired by Thompson H. Boyd, III, MD, FACHE, CHCQM, CPHIM, CPHM, CPHIMS and physician liaison, Hahnemann University Hospital in Philadelphia, selected the educational sessions that will be presented at the 2017 annual conference.
Proposals to speak at HIMSS17 were subject to a peer-review process by the ACEC to ensure the quality of educational offerings and to enhance efficiency in selecting this year's sessions. The ACEC, composed of 14 appointed HIMSS volunteers from across all member constituencies, reviewed and selected all presentations to meet requirements for session participants to achieve continuing medical education (CME) credits.
"HIMSS is recognized for its quality and relevant programming. At HIMSS17, we will have more than 300 speakers share their expertise during our pre-conference and conference educational sessions," said JoAnn W. Klinedinst, MEd, CPHIMS, PMP, FHIMSS, vice president, professional development, for HIMSS. "I congratulate the presenters who will be part of our extensive and diverse programming schedule for HIMSS17."
About Georgia HITEC
The Georgia Health Information Technology Extension Center (GA-HITEC) is Georgia's only federally endorsed health information technology center focused on providing technical assistance to providers and hospitals throughout the entire Electronic Health Record (EHR) implementation process and beyond, including assistance with the reporting required to qualify for and receive CMS EHR Incentive Program payments. GA-HITEC's broad and practical Health Information Technology (HIT) expertise assists practices and hospitals with improving the quality of care for patients and maximizing overall productivity through the meaningful use of EHR systems. Through its work in the HIT arena, GA-HITEC launched Georgia Health Connect (GaHC), a regional health information exchange connecting practices and small hospitals in rural and under resourced areas with disparate EHR systems to the state health information network – a task that would be otherwise difficult to achieve.
About Liaison Technologies
Liaison Technologies provides integration and data management solutions to help customers unlock the power of a data-centric approach to their business. Liaison's cloud-based approach breaks down the barriers between data silos to tap into the valuable information needed to make better decisions, faster. Tailored to solve complex data problems today while building a robust foundation for tomorrow's unforeseen challenges, Liaison's solutions foster a seamless flow of information securely and at scale. Founded in 2000, Liaison serves more than 7,000 customers in 46 countries, with offices in the United States, the Netherlands, Finland, Sweden, the United Kingdom and Singapore. For more information, visit www.liaison.com and connect with Liaison on Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook.
SOURCE Liaison Technologies
