The MTIA Conference in Daytona Beach was a big success.  Six of us participated in some healthy discussions and debates about the future of healthcare documentation and the role of the dictated narrative.  It was a pleasure to network with industry colleagues.  Here is a picture from Thursday evening.  Eric had left already.  Pictured (left to right) are Nick, Dave, Linda, Cindy and Gabe.

This week the management team and I will be headed to Daytona Beach for the 21st Annual MTIA Conference.  I will be participating in a panel discussion about the importance of the Health Story Project to healthcare documentation and the future the transcription industry.  Many other important topics will be covered, and InfraWare will have a booth in the exhibit hall.  We always look forward to seeing many customers at this annual event, and we often meet some new ones too.

Cindy Thomas and I flew the Bonanza up to Peoria, IL this morning to participate in the annual Illinois AHIMA (ILHIMA) annual conference.  We've been coming to this event for many years, and it is well organized.  Cindy is networking with participants on the exhibits floor, and I'll be the closing speaker for today on the subject of the Health Story Project.

I joined the Indiana AHIMA group today in Plainfield, IN.  They're having a good conference.  I've seen many old friends and met some new ones.  On Thursday, I'll be headed to Peoria, IL for ILHIMA (Illinois AHIMA).  At ILHIMA, I'll be speaking about the Health Story Project.

It is hot in Phoenix, the AHDI-West conference is going full steam, and I just participated in a simulcast from here with other participant's of last month's Advocacy Summit in Washington, D.C.  Many members of our industry who weren't able to attend this year's Advocacy Summit tuned in to hear about the accomplishments and learn how to advocate during the year.  Attendees unanimously agreed that this year's Summit was the best ever and the time invested was well worth it.  Our messages are critical, and legislators need to hear them.

I am departing Indy this afternoon for Phoenix to participate in the AHDI-West Conference.  It was my honor to be invited to speak to the conference attendees about the future of the transcription industry post-EMR adoption.  In addition to discussing InfraWare technology solutions, I'll be presenting the concepts and benefits behind the Health Story Project.

I joined about 50 other members of AHDI and MTIA in Washington, D.C. this week for an Advocacy Summit.  I met with 6 legislative offices along with three team members.  Altogether, participants visited representatives of 30 states to explain the important role of the narrative note as healthcare pushes forward with EMR implementations.  The messages were very well received overall, and we hope to have influenced many of the lawmakers to correspond with the Secretary of Health and Human Services to include references to the transcription and editing process (of dictated narrative notes) in the definition of meaningful use.  We explained how the Health Story Project (CDA4CDT) helps bridge the gap between free narrative and the structured data required by EMRs.

Cindy Thomas and I enjoyed Sunday and Monday meetings with our transcription industry colleagues at the annual HIMSS conference in Atlanta, GA.  I spent a significant amount of time at the Health Story Project Kiosk in the Interoperability Showcase (pic below) talking to people about the power of Clinical Document Architecture (CDA).  We also visited with Verizon and members of the Transcription Industry Consortium on the Medical Data Exchange network being announced today.

InfraWare will be represented at next week’s annual HIMSS (Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society) conference in Atlanta, GA. I am on the Health Story Project’s Executive Committee and will be at the Health Story Project kiosk in the Interoperability Showcase all afternoon on Monday, February 1st. The Interoperability Showcase is specifically for technologies that simplify communication among disparate systems. If you will be attending this conference, please stop by and say hi to Nick.

InfraWare is a promoter (highest level member) of the Health Story Project because this initiative fits our strategic vision for helping transcription providers to add value to delivered reports. InfraWare expects to provide customers with a low-cost, high impact vehicle for document delivery that eventually renders those old interfaces obsolete.  Transcription providers will be able to provide an EMR-ready document with extended value at a reduced cost. We are currently developing to the Health Story Project vision and you will hear more about this later in 2010.

You can read more about the Health Story Project here.

I am pleased to announce that InfraWare has named David Cochran our permanent CIO.  After accepting the position in an interim capacity in 2009, Dave has contributed significantly to our organization's execution capacity and has fit nicely into our team's culture.   Dave has leadership and management responsibility for the technical side of the organization including development, production and support.