HIMSS19 in Orlando

By Jenni Bendfeldt, Secretary, Founder & CEO of RecastHealth

Along with over 43,000 attendees, several members of the NorCal chapter attended HIMSS19, the largest health IT conference of the year. This year’s event took place February 11-15 at the Orange County Convention Center in Orlando and kicked off by announcing what some may consider to be the most impactful piece of proposed legislation for healthcare interoperability and data-blocking yet, the 21st Century Cures Act.

Throughout the week, the convention center buzzed over what these proposed changes could mean for health IT vendors and healthcare executives, as well as patients. In short—the powerhouses that have dominated the industry for the last decade (e.g., EHR vendors, major health systems) will now be obligated to play nice with their competition for the purposes of coordinating patient care and ensure patients have easy access to their health information at no cost. 

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CalHIPSO Partnership

HIMSS NorCal Chapter is pleased to announce our collaboration with CalHIPSO, a non-profit organization providing technical support for California safety net providers. Beginning in 2010, CalHIPSO provided over 10,000 providers from FQHCs, small practices, and public hospitals to improve operations and access to federal incentives, most notably around programs such as Meaningful Use and MACRA/MIPS (QPPSURS program). This partnership will give HiMSS NorCal better insight into the challenges these organizations face and the opportunity to improve outcomes through the use of technology.

CalHIPSO also provides educational events and we encourage our members to register:

Monday, May 13th, 2019 - First Annual CalHIPSO Conference: Health IT, After Meaningful Use (Sacramento). This exciting one-day event features nationally-recognized speakers on payment reform, medical-dental integration, and state and federal HIT policy. Early Bird registration runs through March 15th. Register here: http://bit.ly/CalHIPSO2019.

Call for Nominees

Beginning, April 1, 2019, the HIMSS Northern California Chapter is accepting the nomination of candidates for the following positions on our volunteer Board of Directors for the next fiscal year beginning July 1: 

What positions are available? 

Executive Committee 

• President-Elect (3-year term)
• Secretary (2-year term)
• Treasurer (2-year term)

Committee Chairs 

• Membership Committee Chair
• Programs Committee Chair
• Sponsorship Committee Chair
• Advocacy Committee Co-Chair

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Upcoming Annual Conferences 

If you would like to sponsor one of these events, please contact mheimannhimss@gmail.com.   

ePatient Summit 2019

April 25, 2019 | 11:30am-6:30pm
Salesforce East
350 Mission St. 
San Francisco, CA 
Register

Beyond Brick and Mortar: Busting Down the Barriers to Healthcare
This year’s summit will provide a platform to exchange ideas. We will explore the exciting ways that technology is changing the way that patients can receive care and interact with their care team. From real-world case studies, you will learn about different ways care providers are getting a more holistic picture of their patients through the Social Determinants of Health, how technology is enabling patients to receive care anywhere, and how new technologies like voice, chatbots, and mobile apps are upending the traditional constraints of healthcare.

7th Annual Innovation Conference & Showcase

June 13, 2019 | 9:00am-6:00pm
International Technical University
2711 North 1st St. 
San Jose, CA
Register

API Studio - Connect, Unlock, Plug-and-Play
The digital revolution spawned by consumer apps is taking off in healthcare. And the need to make health data accessible, useful, and friendly to patients and clinicians has become a national priority. Healthcare APIs fueling this paradigm shift are rapidly finding regulatory and market commitment. Our industry is demanding openness and preparing to rally behind the players who advance it. 

Is your hospital ready to meet this demand? Is your platform truly developer friendly? Is your code good enough to make healthcare work as it should? 

We’re bringing the best developers and innovators across vendors, entrepreneurs, and health organizations in Northern California and beyond to API Studio to collaborate and to disrupt the industry at scale. Join us to see how health tech's brightest minds and best innovators build their APIs. Take away tools and top tactics that you’ll need to succeed in the app economy. Learn how to build awesome tech that drives high-value interactions for your patients and partners. 
Come innovate in the open. Let’s Connect, Unlock, and Plug & Play! 

Spotlight: Jenni Bendfeldt, Secretary HIMSS NorCal, Founder & CEO of RecastHealth

Many of our members have founded companies to help drive healthcare IT innovation further, including our chapter Secretary, Jenni Bendfeldt. Jenni has been a member of the NorCal HIMSS board since 2015, and has served as Chair of the Membership Committee, introducing analytics and reporting process to drive decision-making, and contributing to a number of educational programs. In January 2019, Jenni took on a new venture as Founder & CEO of RecastHealth, a consulting company that works with digital health startups. Recognized as one of Becker’s Healthcare’s list of Rising Stars: Top 90 Healthcare leaders under 40, Jenni has spent over a decade in healthcare in a variety of roles (e.g., clinical nutritionist, practice administrator, IT director, project manager). Prior to founding RecastHealth, Jenni spent 6 years as a consultant with ECG, where she led numerous high-profile projects for large health systems across the country. She says, “Being in the Bay area, I’ve watched too many great startups struggle when deploying their solutions. This wasn’t because of poor technology or a miscalculated opportunity, but because they did not understand the fundamental differences between healthcare and other industries. I founded RecastHealth to help make sure these companies did not have to learn the nuances of the industry the hard way.” Jenni is also a recurring lecturer at Berkeley’s DeCal Future of Healthcare class, has published several articles related to digital health innovations and regularly presents her insights on the evolving healthcare technology space to audiences across the US. 

Get Involved with the Chapter!

Want to help plan one of our annual programs or join a committee? Volunteering for our fabulous events or getting involved with program planning, communications and sponsorship are great ways to expand your professional network and advance your career. It's fun, too! 

If interested, please complete our volunteer survey to get started: https://form.jotform.com/82315828311150