Whew. I think we at CommonWell are asking the same thing many of you are… just where did the summer go? Well, for most of our member companies, it was time well spent, not only working hard on our CommonWell efforts, but also preparing for the members’ client conferences across the country.
For Sunquest, Allscripts and Greenway, they are just getting back to their daily routine after hosting high-energy user conferences that spanned the nation this past month. Hosted in Scottsdale, Chicago and Washington, DC, their conferences were the first of many member events to take place this fall. In fact, CPSI kicks off its national conference today in Mobile, Alabama.
As highlighted below, the CommonWell Health Alliance continues to grow our services in support of national exchange of health data, our member companies are excited to keep their customers up-to-speed on the services intended to be available to them in the future.
Sunquest User Group – August 12-16
By Tom Wilson, vice president – Strategic Programs, Sunquest
Celebrating the Sunquest User Group’s 32nd year, a large number of clients, vendors and employees gathered in Scottsdale, Arizona for the more than 240 hours of educational sessions. Keynote speakers included Marc Probst, CIO & VP, Information Systems, Intermountain Healthcare, and Robert Michel, Editor-in-Chief of The Dark Report, with Sunquest presenters sharing updates on strategy, vision and product roadmaps to attendees.
And there was definitely a lot of “buzz” over Sunquest’s recent announcement to become a member of the CommonWell Health Alliance. The vast majority of feedback related to CommonWell could be allocated to two buckets:
- excitement and confirmation about the positive impact that true interoperability can achieve, particularly in the Lab industry and
- pride over having Sunquest be a driving force for such an important and game-changing project that can and will change the way care is delivered for us and future generations.
The vision of CommonWell aligns with that of Sunquest and was shared by and resonated with our attendees. We’re in!!
Allscripts Client Experience – August 21-23
By Russ Cobb, director – Marketing, Allscripts
At the recent Allscripts Client Experience (ACE), held in Chicago’s McCormick Place, we took the opportunity to provide our clients with an introduction to the CommonWell Health Alliance, and gave it premium exposure. Our participation in the alliance and the distinct advantages we see in an active partnership were featured in main stage presentations, during the largest client education session, throughout breakout sessions, and promoted with venue signage over the course of the three-day event. Allscripts President and CEO Paul Black even included mention of the CommonWell Health Alliance in his keynote address to kick off the event.
On an annual basis, Allscripts hosts thousands of our clients at the Allscripts Client Experience, or ACE as we call it. It’s a tremendous opportunity for clients to learn about our solutions, network with peers, and immerse themselves in everything Allscripts. It’s a great opportunity for us to inform our clients about the future of healthcare IT and how our products and services are changing healthcare and improving patient outcomes.
The ACE 2013 theme featured how Allscripts will lead the transition to value-based care and population health management. As you can imagine, the CommonWell Health Alliance and its goals fit perfectly within this showcase.
Taking advantage of a captive audience, we included CommonWell in formal user group sessions to discuss the planned pilot concept. As the Allscripts Program Manager for Care Coordination and Analytics and a CommonWell Pilot Committee member, Jeff Brady spoke to five user groups about CommonWell, its mission and the work under way to implement the regional program in the coming months.
The message was well received and I’m happy to report that several Allscripts Professional EHR clients have already expressed interest in joining CommonWell as a direct result of Jeff’s meetings and our promotional effort during ACE.
Greenway PrimeLEADER – August 22-25
By Justin T. Barnes, vice president – Industry and Government Affairs, Greenway
The theme for this year’s Greenway PrimeLEADER event was leadership, and the CommonWell
Greenway president and CEO Tee Green shared his enthusiasm for CommonWell during his opening address.
Health Alliance was part of the message that the Greenway team discussed with the record 2,200-plus attendees at the Gaylord National Harbor in Washington, DC.
Interoperability, usability, satisfaction and the bottom-line results of clinical, financial and administrative outcomes are the main focus as Greenway serves its customers and helps drive the industry in developing a smarter, sustainable healthcare system. In the opening general session, both president and CEO Tee Green and executive vice president of Innovation Johnathan Samples cited CommonWell and the collaborative initiative for interoperability and data liquidity as a point of pride and one of the company’s significant accomplishments since the last PrimeLEADER Conference. The new organization, its goals and aspirations were the topic of numerous one-to-one and small-group meetings and dialogues held during the four-day event.
The logo was also visible on the 100-foot screen during the opening ceremony, and anchors the bottom of our new external e-newsletter, The Greenway Connection, launched just prior to PrimeLEADER. The CommonWell banner was very visible in the busy PrimeLEADER Knowledge Center, generating a number of questions regarding the developing organization and its planned next steps.
We look forward to having much more to report at next year’s PrimeLEADER!
We at CommonWell also look forward to the many opportunities to keep our user communities and the industry at large informed on CommonWell’s progress. CPSI, McKesson and Cerner will be hosting their own conferences in the coming months and CommonWell will also be speaking at the upcoming American Health Information Management Association (AHIMA) conference in Atlanta on Oct. 28. Additionally, be on the lookout for a new webinar series to come soon.
We hope to spread the excitement for CommonWell and drive deeper into the CommonWell details as they unfold.