Connectathon Programming

Education and Networking Opportunities to Empower Health IT

With hundreds of the industry’s top standards and health IT experts in one place, IHE USA offers turn-key educational programs and networking events to support collaboration and professional development. Attend the IHE Experience Day and standards acceleration education to gain exclusive access to the IHE Connectathon testing floor, industry subject matter experts, and information on tools and resources to support your interoperability initiatives.

IHE Experience Day and Standards Implementation Acceleration Programs

This year IHE North America Connectathon was hosted in Austin, TX from March 6-10, 2023. In addition to the “classic” Connectathon experience, IHE USA curated three days of interoperability education and discussions.

Tuesday, March 7: IHE Experience Day + Networking Reception
Wednesday, March 8: Implementation Acceleration Program Day 1
Thursday, March 9: Implementation Acceleration Program Day 2 + IHE Social Event

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IHE Experience Day 2023: Tuesday, March 7

Enabling Digital Transformation in Healthcare:

The Road to Resilience

The Connectathon Week Programming starts with the IHE Experience Day – specially curated interoperability sessions providing interoperability stakeholders an opportunity to hear perspectives from expert’s leading digital health programs across the globe. Learn about solutions that leverage IHE, FHIR® and other world class standards – and how they have benefited system developers, vendors, users, procurement organizations and government agencies in the US and across the world.

IHE Experience Day: Tuesday March 7, 2023
*Enabling Digital Transformation in Healthcare: The Road to Resilience*
Time & Location		Speakers
9:30 am Capitol View North	Welcome to the IHE Experience Day and the Connectathon	Christina Caraballo - President, IHE USA; Vice President, Informatics, HIMSS; IHE International – Board of Directors
10:00 am Capitol View North	Global HIT Spotlight: International Patient Summary	James Agnew- CTO, SMILE Digital Health Jurgen Brandstatter - Deputy co-chair, IHE Europe Christina Caraballo - President, IHE USA; Vice President, Informatics, HIMSS Dan Vreeman - Chief Standards Officer, HL7 International
11:00 am Capitol View North	From Sandbox to Production - Enabling Interoperability in Healthcare	Ryan Argentieri - Deputy Director, Office of the National Coordinator
11:30 pm Capitol View North	LUNCH/COFFEE BREAK
1:30 pm Capitol View North	TEFCA and Nationwide Interoperability	Didi Davis - Vice President of Informatics, Conformance and Interoperability, The Sequoia Project
2:30 pm Capitol View North	eConsent and Equitable Interoperability	Brian Handspicker- Chief Technology Officer; Stewards of Change
3:30 pm Capitol View North	Advancing Interoperability for Emergency Medicine Services (EMS)	N. Clay Mann- Principal Investigator NEMSIS Technical Assistance Center; University of Utah School of Medicine Josh Legler - NEMSIS TAC Consultant
4:00 pm Capitol View North	Live Demonstration with THSA: PULSE (Patient Unified Lookup System for Emergencies)	Eric Heflin - Board Member, IHE USA; CTO/CISO Texas Health Services Authority; CTO, eHealth Exchange
4:45 pm Testing Floor	Connectathon Testing Floor Tour	Emely Lemus - IHE USA North American Manager
6:00 pm Capitol View South	Networking Reception

IHE USA – Implementation Acceleration Program

Day 1: Wednesday, March 8

Day 2: Thursday, March 9

Enabling Digital Transformation in Healthcare:

The Building Blocks

The Connectathon Week Programming continues with a two day implementation acceleration program that encourages conversation and dialogue to generate actionable progress for communities looking to advance standards based health IT initiatives. The focus of these sessions are to help stakeholders understand how to better leverage the existing building blocks and foundational components of interoperability that exist today.

The Implementation Acceleration Program provides a thorough overview of the standards and profiling ecosystem - stakeholders will get a better understanding of SDO activities such as the ins and outs of HL7 FHIR and IHE Connectathons, the concept of a Projectathon, and demonstrations to help spur adoption. Participants will have the opportunity to learn from industry subject matter experts and gain an understanding of the various tools, programs, and initiatives that can jumpstart health IT implementation projects by leveraging existing resources and understanding how and when to take part in broader health IT community activities.

Two days of immersive and interactive interoperability education. Subject matter experts from IHE, HIMSS, and our collaborative partners provide an opportunity to dive into practical interoperability issues that implementers are facing today.

How standards and profiles are developed, tested, and implemented.
How to leverage existing health IT infrastructure and how IHE profiles support the building blocks for interoperability
Understand how data flows the ecosystem, from document based to granular FHIR® based exchanges
How to effectively approach cybersecurity and privacy to support interoperability
The key national interoperability projects that will advance health exchange in the US: EMS, Maternal and Child Health Interoperability, Collecting and Accessing SDOH Data
HIMSS community programs and solutions that help enable the interoperability ecosystem

IHE USA Implementation Acceleration Day 1 Wednesday March 8, 2023
*The Building Blocks Enabling Digital Transformation in Healthcare*
Module 1 9:30am Capitol View North	IHE International: Integrating the Health IT Ecosystem Join IHE International experts from across the globe as we dive into the IHE Process and Purpose, as well as the various events and activities IHE supports to help advance interoperability from specification to production. Learn more about IHE USA's The Path to Production, the current Health Information Exchange Standards and IT Infrastructure landscape , HL7 FHIR and IHE Connectathons & Projectathons, and the vision for IHE Catalyst, Gazelle and the Gazelle Partner Ecosystem. Focus: Expanding on the EMS Interoperability Use Case, International Patient Summary, and Open-Source Testing and Tooling	Claudio Saccavini - IHE Catalyst; Andreas Klingler, IHE Europe; Andrea Fourquet, IHE USA; John Moehrke, IHE USA
12:00	LUNCH / COFFEE BREAK
Module 2 2pm-4:30pm Capitol View North	Interop.community Presents: MELD Open-Source Sandbox Join experts from the Interoperability Institute and Interop.Community as we dive into an interactive learning session focused on interoperability tools and resources available to implementers to Accelerate Health IT projects. This module will cover the following topics: Education Session: FHIR 101 Discussion: Launching an eConsent Community of Practice Demonstration: MELD Interoperability Sandbox Interactive: Working with Patient Personas in MELD	Interoperability Institute
Breakout Session Capitol View South	QHIN/TEFCA Testing Track - Session 1 - INVITATION ONLY	Hosted by: The Sequoia Project
4:30-6pm Breakout Session Capitol View North	Testing and Tooling Developer Meeting	Hosted by: IHE USA

IHE USA Implementation Acceleration Day 2 Thursday, March 9, 2023
*The Building Blocks Enabling Digital Transformation in Healthcare*
Module 3 - 10:30am Capitol View North	Enabling better data across along the Path to Production: FHIR® International Patient Summary reference implementation IHE USA is thrilled to have experts from Smile Digital Health (aka Smile CDR) help kick off a Path to Production partnership built atop a new FHIR ® IPS reference implementation. Stakeholders will gain a better understanding of how to accelerate use case innovations with the IPS FHIR® data set & APIs to unlock value, break down silos & facilitate compliance is high value use cases. This approach secures the exchange of data & near real time insights using an open-standards health data fabric framework. Using the cross-SDO specification for the International Patient Summary as an overarching example, our experts will guide stakeholders through an informative session that breaks down health information exchange and how to jumpstart your Path to Production innovations. Focus: FHIR ® International Patient Summary (IPS)	Sponsored by: SMILE Digital Health
Breakout Session Capitol View South	QHIN / TEFCA Testing Track - Session 2 (Invitation Only)	Hosted by: The Sequoia Project
12:00pm - 1:30pm Capitol View North	EMS Interoperability Task Force IHE USA and NEMSIS have launched an EMS Interoperability Task Force to help advance eOutcomes reporting for EMS. This open session convenes NEMSIS Technical Assistance Center Members, state EMS managers, and other key stakeholders across the industry.	Session Focus: Governmental, regulatory, and contractual environment
12:00pm	Lunch
Module 4 - 2:30pm-3:30pm Capitol View North	Interoperability Programs for Testing and Compliance Join experts from the Drummond Group, one of the leading ONC-Authorized Testing Labs and Certification Bodies responsible for administering the Promoting Interoperability Program in the US. Hear about important updates and changes to the ONC Certification as well as other relevant compliance and testing programs for interoperability and cybersecurity: ONC Promoting Interoperability Program, Testing and Certification Real World Testing / Surveillance HIMSS / CDC / AIRA Immunization Integration Program Pediatric Certification Program Real World Testing	Hosted by: Timothy Bennet, Director of Strategic Healthcare Initiatives at Drummond Group
Module 4b	Cybersecurity and Privacy Update Join Lee Kim, the Senior Principal, Cybersecurity and Privacy at HIMSS. Lee will be sharing the latest updates based on her experience as a member of the U.S. DHS Analytic Exchange Program and the National Cybersecurity Training & Education Center (NCYTE) National Visiting Committee, as well as her experience as an attorney in healthcare and intellectual property law.	Lee Kim, JD CISSP CIPP/US FHIMSS
Breakout Session Capitol View South	QHIN/TEFCA Testing Track - Session 3 (Invitation Only)	Hosted by: The Sequoia Project
4:30-6pm Breakout Session Capitol View North	Testing and Tools Developer Meeting	Hosted by: IHE USA
6:30pm The Backyard	IHE Social Event

Note: Sessions are subject to change as programming is finalized.

Questions?

From developers to practitioners to CTIO’s, there’s something valuable for everyone at this year’s IHE Connectathon in Austin, TX March 6-10, 2023. Contact connectathon@ihe.net for questions.

Connectathon Programming

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