The federal healthcare market is a dynamic space that plays a role in many of today's key political and societal challenges. From insurance reform, to identity theft and ransomware attacks, to a focus on the opioid crisis, healthcare has been front and center in the news cycles. Agencies across the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are intimately involved in responses to these challenges. It is a large and complex organization that relies on the help of industry partners to meet the ever-evolving public health needs of the nation.[Tweet "Getting a Pulse on Health and Human Services. #GovEventsBlog"]
Some current key challenges facing the Department are:
- IT modernization - About 40 percent of the systems of record in HHS are legacy systems in need of modernization. The agency has a goal of bringing 30 percent of its operational systems into the cloud in the coming years. It will do this with an annual IT spend of $13.8 billion.
- Interoperability - As part of the IT modernization, HHS is looking at interoperability as a key solution. Interoperability, of course, has a technical component, including looking at key tech trends such as blockchain and HL7 FHIR. There is also the need for process interoperability, including changing procurement policy and practices.
- HIPAA - Having been on the books for over 20 years, HIPAA is still evolving to meet the needs of today's providers and patients. In an age of data breaches, compliance with HIPAA security guidance is a key focus of all health organizations. While IT security may be getting beefed up, other guidance is being loosened to better serve the public health. Recently, HHS released new guidance on when and how healthcare providers can share a patient's health information with family members, friends, and/or a legal representative when a patient is in crisis from opioid abuse.[Tweet "Key challenges facing the HHS include: IT Modernization, Interoperability and HIPAA #GovEventsBlog"]
These are complex issues to tackle and luckily there are a wealth of educational resources to help federal employees and industry alike learn about the challenges and solutions in this market. We've gathered a few worthwhile events here:
- AMSUS (November 27-December 1, 2017; National Harbor, MD) With a theme of "From Battlefront to Homefront," this annual event will provide a detailed look at the wide range of skills and specialties which must work synchronously to care for those who go in harm's way, as well as for their families. This comprehensive event gives military health providers education and hands on experience with the latest medical tools and techniques.
- Blockchain and its Potential in Government (November 29, 2017; Washington, DC) As Federal agencies are funding and building use cases to explore the potential of blockchain and distributed ledger technologies, this event serves as a primer for government executives, managers, and staff to learn about the technology and its potential use for government entities.
- Conducting HIPAA Security Risk Assessment (December 11, 2017; webinar) This course reviews the methodologies for conducting a HIPAA Risk Assessment based on the formula used by Federal auditors and via the guidelines of the NIST (National Institute of Standards and Technology). It highlights the most important aspects to be aware of in terms of the Federal auditing process as well as the new risks regarding wrongful disclosures.
- Health IT Day (January 16, 2018; Bethesda, MD) AFCEA Bethesda's annual Health IT Day brings together more than 700 senior executives and IT professionals from across industry and government to discuss healthcare initiatives in civilian and military health. The event features keynote presentations from officials with FDA, CDC, CMS, NIH, ONC, HHS, VA and DOD.
- Non-pharmacologic Treatment of Pain Panel Discussion (January 23, 2018; Bethesda, MD) With the focus on opioid use and abuse, this event dives into the issue describing The Military Health System (MHS) efforts to improve pain management for TRICARE and VA beneficiaries. The goal is to arm health care providers with a variety of non-pharmacologic options to help patients with pain.
- Medicare Conference 2018 (February 26-27; Austin, TX) This event discusses methods and strategies to improve the quality, ratings, member engagement and health system alignment of Medicare programs. Speakers representing health plans, regulatory agencies, and health systems share their experiences and lessons learned of navigating the Medicare landscape while defining the proven practices that result in improved health outcomes, decreased expenditures, and better ratings.[Tweet "A look at some of the upcoming healthcare focused events posted on GovEvents. #GovEventsBlog"]
You can find more events like these on GovEvents.com. As always, we'd love to hear from you. How do you stay up-to-date on the issues impacting HHS? Let us know in the comments.
