HIMSS15: Embracing innovation to improve care outcomes

There currently are many efforts in healthcare to support and advance innovation.

For instance, the Bipartisan Policy Center is working on a program to support innovation in healthcare. Its five-point "FDA: Advancing Medical Innovation" initiative, which kicked off last month, is addressing how to accelerate the discovery, development and delivery of medical products.

However, healthcare leaders often tend to get bogged down in the day-to-day, and "finding time for innovation amidst the swirl of must-do projects can be a challenge," John Halamka, chief information officer at Boston-based Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, wrote in his blog earlier this year. He urges taking a long-term view in the quest for tools that will increase productivity and, ideally, can be used in multiple ways, so as not to create niche systems.

To that end, in a new feature at the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society's annual conference, HX360, an initiative by HIMSS and AVIA to work with health leaders to reinvent care delivery, will spotlight next generation technology innovation with an executive program, an innovation challenge and innovation pavilion. The event will run from Monday, April 13, through Tuesday, April 14.

In addition, other sessions focused on innovation will include: