Ohio's 6th Annual Healthcare Information Technology Day Highlights the Importance of HIT for Ohio Legislators

COLUMBUS, Ohio, April 3, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- The connection between Ohio's economic future and Technology in Healthcare will be the focus of discussions with legislators at the Ohio Statehouse by advocates of Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) on April 11^th.

The Atrium of the Ohio Statehouse is the epicenter for the 6^th annual Ohio Healthcare Information Technology Day 2013 on Thursday, April 11^th, 2013. The event is sponsored by the Central & Southern Ohio HIMSS Chapter (CSOHIMSS), www.csohimss.org Northern Ohio HIMSS Chapter (NOHIMSS), www.nohimss.org Ohio Health Information Management Association (OHIMA) www.ohima.org and College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (CHiME) www.cio-chime.org. They have joined forces to organize this event, designed to continue the Healthcare IT momentum in Ohio and to maintain the visibility of HIT through proactive advocacy.  "The JOBS of the future are here today," said Christina Moore, who chairs the joint Healthcare IT Day Committee.  "Our constituencies will meet with policymakers in their offices, attend lunches with them and attend a reception in the Statehouse Atrium with the focus of reminding our legislators of the importance of HIT to the future of Ohio."

Legislators understand the importance of HIT all to well when it comes to the state budget.  "Almost 40 percent of Ohio's total budget is allocated to fund Medicaid," said State Senator David Burke, who currently represents the 26^th Senate District in Ohio.  "We need to ensure that these funds are spent wisely and HIT is able to reduce some of the waste that exists in the current system."

The noon luncheon includes key players in Ohio Healthcare. Opening remarks are by Pharmacist and Senator Dave Burke. Featured speakers Greg Moody, Director of the Governor's Office of Health Transformation, Amy Rohling-McGee, President of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio (HPIO), Dan Paoletti the CEO of the Ohio Health Information Partnership (OHIP) will provide an update on the programs that OHIP is implementing with the HITECH funding and its future plans and Trudi Mathews, Director of Public Policy and Relations for HealthBridge will provide an update as well.  Later in the afternoon you will hear from healthcare provider CIO's from around the state regarding "The Joy of Health Information Exchange" (HIE) and obstacles related to implementation of the HIE.

CSOHIMSS, NOHIMSS, OHIMA and CHiME advocates will emphasize the vital importance of investment needed to recognize potential savings both now and in the future as the need for care continues to grow.  HIMSS supports ensuring access to electronic medical records, data exchange, health care data standardization, technology interoperability, and state alignment with federal health IT initiatives.

The over 5,000 combined active members of CSOHIMSS, NOHIMSS, OHIMA and CHiME are comprised of diverse Health IT professionals, including CIO, CMIO, CEO, Director level administrators, technology specialists, clinicians, healthcare workers, nurses, vendors, and students. OHIMA is a statewide organization of credentialed specialists in the field of health information management (HIM), NOHIMSS primarily serves the Greater Cleveland area while CSOHIMSS serves the remainder of Ohio and CHiME is dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT leaders. For more information on CSOHIMSS, NOHIMSS, OHIMA and CHiME, please visit their websites at www.csohimss.org, www.nohimss.org, www.ohima.org, and www.cio-chime.org. 

For more information please contact:
Christina Moore, Advocacy Chair
Contact Information: Email / 614.439.3319

Or for Media inquires please contact:
David Kissinger, Public Relations Chair, CSOHIMSS
Contact Information: Email / 419.350.8949

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SOURCE Central & Southern Ohio Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society