The 2019 DVHIMSS Spring Symposium was held on March 21st, 2019; a change from the usual winter theme and was a great kick off to the Spring season. The theme of this year’s symposium, The Patient-Provider Experience: Beyond the Point of Care, focused on the proliferation of data and how it has transformed the interaction between patients, providers, and payers. The sold-out program featured a diversity of presenters & perspectives on how to foster better patient engagement, through technology, in this new wave of healthcare.

The program kicked off with an opening keynote from Dr. Gary Zimmer, CMO of QUIL- a unique partnership between the region’s leading health insurer and a national media and entertainment company focused on bringing a customized healthcare itinerary directly to the consumer in their home. The closing keynote, delivered by Dr. Bimal Desai, AVP & Chief Health Informatics Officer at CHOP, culminated the program with a call for more value-based technologies and a focus on quality principles in developing evidence-based solutions in healthcare.
 
Chapter President, Bruce Marcolongo, facilitated a multi-stakeholder panel that featured healthcare leaders from business and technology sharing insights and strategies to consider as we engage consumers across the healthcare spectrum. John Sharp, Director Thought Advisory at Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHA) - a HIMSS innovation company, gave a presentation on "how to build consumer applications and doing it right". Topics highlighted during the breakout sessions included; the value of behavioral science in developing and implementing patient engagement tools and strategies; how to create a welcoming environment in the EHR for LGBTQ patients; optimizing the EHR’s functionalities to inform the strategy around access to care; and leveraging the power of customer relationship management (CRM) in facilitating better patient engagement.
 
Key take-aways from the Spring Symposium emphasized that healthcare technology should address the following: convenience, inclusion, solve a problem that needs to be solved, provide information in meaningful ways, and adapt to the needs of patients from Gen Xers to Baby Boomers.

Thanks to all participants and sponsors for making our Spring Symposium a huge success!!

Event Information, Photos & Presentation Slides

Photos

Presentations

Note: Only presentations made available for public viewing by the presenters will be shown on this page

Opening Keynote

Simply Possible: A Not-So-Odd Couple Join Forces to Start a Uniquely Philadelphian Story

General Educational Session

Building Consumer-Facing Health Devices and Apps and Doing it Right

Track A: The New-Age Provider

Session 1: The Discharge Concierge-Measurable Patient Activation and Top of License Clinical Practice

Session 2: A Strategy for Improved Access to Care

Track B: Customer Service in Healthcare

Session 1: Creating a Welcoming Environment in the EHR for our LGBTQ Patients

Session 2: Harnessing the Power of CRM

Closing Keynote

Digital Therapeutics: The Case for Value-Based Technologies in Healthcare

The Patient-Provider Experience: Beyond the Point of Care

Consumerization in healthcare is happening! The availability of data and tools like telemedicine, mobile devices and wearables has allowed patients and providers to interact in unprecedented ways. But how has this impacted the experience for these stakeholders? Has satisfaction increased? What has been the impact on health outcomes and have we seen a reduction in cost? Or is it all too soon to tell?

These are some of the questions that we intend to tackle at this year’s Spring Symposium. Join us at the Hilton Philadelphia City Avenue on March 21, 2019 as we bring together 125+ healthcare IT executives, providers and innovators to share insights, experiences, and knowledge on The Patient-Provider Experience: Beyond the Point of Care.

The 2019 symposium will feature:

• Two keynote speakers
• Leadership panel: The New Wave of Healthcare
• Educational sessions
  • General Session
  • Track A: The New-Age Provider
  • Track B: Customer Service in Healthcare
• Networking reception

The 2018 symposium attracted over 100 participants and was sold out weeks in advance! 

Don’t forget to share this exciting and informative event with your colleagues!

Learning Objectives

• Explore local partnerships and initiatives driving consumer health and moving beyond the confines of the traditional healthcare setting.
• Identify solutions, strategies and best practices to drive consumer engagement within your organization.
• Gain insights from a panel of local and national leaders about how the consumerization of healthcare has changed the ecosystem and what things we should consider for the future.
• Learn about the challenges and successes of consumer health and the impact on the patient-provider experience

Schedule-at-a-Glance

Download Agenda

Keynote Speakers

Opening Keynote

Dr. Gary Zimmer, CMO, QUIL 

Topic - Simply Possible: A Not-So-Odd Couple Join Forces to Start a Uniquely Philadelphian Story

Healthcare in the United States is complex and challenging to navigate. Even the most knowledgeable consumer has difficulty identifying the best next step in their health journey. Leveraging the power of media and entertainment, along with the knowledge and expertise of the leading health insurer in the Greater Philadelphia area, QUIL was formed to tackle the big problems in healthcare.

Bringing together the best clinical information and technology solutions, QUIL delivers a custom, personalized, and engaging health itinerary for everyone; helping them achieve their personal health goals. But the story of QUIL is a uniquely Philadelphian story; one which will spotlight the entire region in an effort to transform healthcare from the perspective of the individual consumer.
 

Speaker's Biography

Dr. Gary Zimmer is a healthcare leader with more than 20 years of experience in health system executive management, outsourced clinical services, provider organizations, accountable care/population health and healthcare technology. Dr. Zimmer served as the General Manager (GM) of QUIL during its inception and was responsible for establishing all aspects of the start-up including the creation of its first product offering, business plan refinement, and strategic direction. In collaboration with the founding members, Dr. Zimmer onboarded the company’s first CEO with whom he will work as the Chief Medical Officer.

Prior to his work with QUIL and as an advisor to a number of small healthcare technology startup companies, Dr. Zimmer was the Senior Vice President (SVP) for the Clinically Integrated Network (CIN) for Mercy Health System of Southeastern Pennsylvania, a member of Trinity Health. While at Mercy, he had regional responsibility for IT services, the ambulatory service line, physician networks and population health initiatives. He was also the founding Medical Director for Trinity’s National Medicare Shared Savings (MSSP) Track 3 Accountable Care Organization (ACO).

Before working for the health system, Dr. Zimmer was the SVP for the Northeast Group of TeamHealth where he had regional practice management oversight, business development responsibilities and national leadership and development roles for that organization.

A native New Yorker, Gary Zimmer has proudly called Philadelphia home for nearly 15 years and is passionate about the role that the region will play in the future of healthcare.

Closing Keynote

Dr. Bimal Desai, AVP & CHIO, Children's Hospital of Philadelphia

Topic - Digital Therapeutics: The Case for Value-Based Technologies in Healthcare

As consumerism, value-based care, and ubiquitous mobile technologies continue to challenge the episode-based model of healthcare, a few key questions come to mind;

• What roles do patient-facing applications, connected health devices, and “digital hovering” play in the management of disease?
• Should we distinguish technologies intended to improve the patient experience from technologies with a therapeutic intent?
• What should we make of the hype surrounding the digital revolution in healthcare, at a time when venture capital investments in healthcare technology are projected to hit a staggering $8 billion per year?

These are a few of the critical issues that Dr. Bimal Desai will address during his keynote. He will also provide an overview of how Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia is building teams and partnerships, both internal and external, to address these issues.
 

Speaker's Biography

Dr. Bimal Desai, MBI, serves as Associate Vice President & Chief Health Informatics Officer at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) where he leads the hospital’s Digital Health, Enterprise Analytics, and Clinical Informatics programs. In 2017, Dr. Desai was presented the PACT Enterprise Healthcare Innovator Award and has been recognized on three occasions by Becker’s Healthcare as one of the country’s “CMIO’s to Know”. His work spans the intersection of healthcare innovation, entrepreneurship, and technology; advancing CHOP’s programs in telemedicine; the digitally-enhanced patient experience; and healthcare data science.

Bimal holds a faculty appointment as Clinical Assistant Professor of Pediatrics in the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and is an attending physician on the general pediatrics inpatient teaching services at CHOP. In 2013, Bimal and his co-faculty members were recipients of the American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Leadership Award for their work to develop and teach the AMIA Clinical Informatics Board Review Course (CIBRC). To date, the AMIA CIBRC program has prepared over 1,500 physicians to sit for the Clinical Informatics board certification examination, in both face-to-face and online seminars.

Dr. Desai is a graduate of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO. He completed his residency and chief residency in pediatrics at Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia. He holds a master’s degree in Biomedical Informatics from Oregon Health and Sciences University in Portland, OR. Bimal lives in West Philadelphia with his wife Naomi and their 8-year old twins. In his free time, he is an avid musician, photographer, and cyclist.

Leadership Panel: The New Wave of Healthcare

This year's panel will feature healthcare leaders discussing initiatives related to consumer healthcare within their organizations, providing guidance about what should be considered as we implement and strategies to engage consumers across the healthcare spectrum.

Moderator

Bruce Marcolongo, DVHIMSS President 

Bruce Marcolongo has over 25 years of experience in Healthcare/Healthcare IT and currently currently serves as a Senior Director of Information Services at Universal Health Services Inc. He has been with UHS for over 15 years and in his leadership role is responsible for three major verticals within the Information Services Department: Clinical Ancillary Systems, Enterprise Customer Support Center and the CORE Team focused on HIE and Interoperability.

In addition to his extensive career in Healthcare IT, Bruce is currently serving as the President of the Delaware Valley Chapter of HIMSS (DVHIMSS), where he has been an active member since 2005.

Panelists

Neil Goldfarb

Mr. Neil Goldfarb is President and CEO of the Greater Philadelphia Business Coalition on Health (GPBCH). GPBCH is an employer-led non-profit organization established in 2012 with the mission of developing best practices for maintaining a healthy workforce, and ensuring that when healthcare is needed it is safe, high-quality, accessible and affordable. The organization represents over 1.5 million covered lives nationally, including 750,000 lives in Southeastern Pennsylvania, Southern New Jersey, and Delaware. Mr. Goldfarb brings over 30 years of healthcare research and management experience to his leadership position.

As Associate Dean for Research at the Jefferson College of Population Health, he was responsible for developing and carrying out the school’s research agenda, focused on healthcare quality and value, as well as the economic evaluation of healthcare technologies. Concurrently, Mr. Goldfarb served as Director of Ambulatory Care Performance Improvement for the Jefferson faculty practice plan. Neil's previous positions include Executive Director of a quality improvement consulting and data collection firm, and Vice President of Health Services for the Philadelphia region’s first Medicaid managed care plan. He has also authored over 60 articles in various peer-reviewed literature. Mr. Goldfarb is Chair of the Board of Governors of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchaser Coalitions, and founding co-Director of the College for Value-based Purchasing of Health Benefits.

John Sharp

John Sharp, MSSA, PMP, FHIMSS, is a senior manager in the Personal Connected Health Alliance of HIMSS responsible for thought leadership in connected health. His current interests include evidence for digital health, health behavior change, AI, digital therapeutics, and telehealth policy. John is located at the HIMSS Innovation Center in Cleveland, Ohio. He advises startups through the Medical Capital Innovation Competition and the Healthbox Studio.

John Sharp is also an Adjunct Faculty in the Health Informatics Master’s Program at Kent State University teaching Clinical Analytics. He serves on the International Editorial Board for ICT & Health and is the author of several book chapters and journal articles related to connected health, social media and chronic kidney disease. John's most recent book chapters appear in Health Informatics: A Practical Guide.

Eric Smith

Eric C. Smith is the Corporate Director, Digital, Office of Transformation, Christiana Care Health System. Eric is responsible for developing and expanding the infrastructure and tools necessary to leverage digital assets as innovative tools in pursuit of Christiana Care’s strategic objectives. His areas of focus include consumer digital technology, consumer initiatives in support of telehealth, and developing emerging digital technology, such as robotic process automation and artificial intelligence.

Before joining Christiana Care, Eric Smith spent 20 years with DuPont working both domestically and internationally, most recently as the IT chief technology officer. In that role he had accountability for enterprise architecture, infrastructure services, strategic vendor management, and emerging technologies. Eric is a Six Sigma Black Belt.

Educational Sessions

Click on topic title and speaker name to read session abstract & speaker bio respectively.

General Session

Topic: Building Consumer-Facing Health Devices and Apps and Doing it Right
Speaker: John Sharp, Senior Manager, Personal Connected Health Alliance (PCHA)

Track A: The New-Age Provider

Session 1

Topic: The Discharge Concierge-Measurable Patient Activation and Top of License Clinical Practice
Speaker: Bob Gold, GoMo Health

Bob Gold

Session 2

Topic: A Strategy for Improved Access to Care
Speaker: Jake Moore, Penn Medicine 

Jake Moore

Track B: Customer Service in Healthcare

Session 1

Topic: Creating a Welcoming Environment in the EHR for our LGBTQ Patients
Speakers: Eileen Phillips, Main Line Health  &  Joanne Glusman, Main Line Health

Eileen Phillips

Joanne Glusman

Session 2

Topic: Harnessing the Power of CRM
Speakers: Matt Gretczko, Silverline & Walter Groszewski, Silverline

Matt Gretczko

Walter Groszewski