Putting the IT in Your Next Doctor VisIT

National Health IT Week was designed to raise awareness of the role IT plays in healthcare and to move forward the use of IT solutions that make a difference in the quality of patient care. The field of Health IT has evolved greatly from using technology to help with administrative functions and patient records. Today, Health IT is at the bedside with telemedicine consults, IoT medical devices, patient education, and more. Additionally, the health market is looking to emerging technologies like blockchain to help with chain of custody of records and controlled substances. IT is also playing a huge role in public health by using data analytics to spot patterns and trends in everything from flu outbreaks to opioid abuse.

With all of these opportunities for IT to become part of the delivery of healthcare there are of course huge security concerns. Publicity around breeches and ransomware incidents have put the industry on high alert to be proactive in their security and responsive to public concern about the security of private health data.

National Health IT Week, being celebrated October 8-12, will address all of these topics and more with a variety of virtual and live events nationwide. If you can't make it to the official events that week there are plenty of other opportunities throughout the year to learn about trends, tactics, and challenges in Health IT.

• Connected Health Conference (October 17-19, 2018; Boston, MA) -- With a focus on taking the digital technologies that individuals use to track health statistics such as daily activity and vital signs, and combining them with new applications of artificial intelligence, social robots and vocal biomarkers, this event looks at how to integrate these technologies in healthcare delivery, wellness and daily living. Over 2,000 front-line healthcare providers, tech innovators, decision makers, life sciences companies, investors and forward-thinking companies come together at this event to share best practices and showcase the latest technologies.
• AMIA 2018 Annual Symposium (November 3-7, 2018; San Francisco, CA) - This event brings together professionals from diverse backgrounds committed to transforming health through informatics. Topics span the scale of informatics expertise by showcasing basic, applied, and clinical interests.
• AMSUS 2018 Annual Meeting (November 26-30, 2018; National Harbor, MD) - This event is specifically designed for federal health leadership and professionals from the Department of Defense, Veterans Affairs, Health and Human Services, Department of Homeland Security, and their industry and international partners. Attendees earn CME credits for educational sessions organized in four tracks: Improving Health: The Art and Science of Medicine and Surgery; Leadership in Healthcare, Global Health, Operational Readiness and Humanitarian Support; Trauma Care, Behavioral Health and Traumatic Brain Injury; and Advances in the Delivery of Healthcare.
• Blockchain Health IT Summit (December 5-6, 2018; San Diego, CA) - With a theme of "Utilizing Blockchain to Transform Healthcare Systems and Business Practice," this event provides a full-spectrum viewpoint of blockchain-based technologies in the healthcare setting. The Summit will offer key insight on the future of blockchain business models in healthcare, and how this disruptive technology will go on to innovate healthcare delivery for years to come.
• AFCEA Bethesda Health IT Day (January 29-30, 2019; Bethesda, MD) - This event brings together more than 600 senior executives and IT professionals from across industry and federal agencies. The goals of the program are to foster better interagency communication among key stakeholders, share lessons learned and best practices, identify mission-critical IT issues that strengthen program management, align the acquisition and budget process with the technology cycle, improve accountability and increase engagement with industry.

Let us know what other events are key for rounding out an understanding of Health IT opportunities and challenges.