THIRD NATIONAL MEDICAL BANKING INSTITUTE

February 24-25, 2005

Nashville, TN

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Mark Frisse, MD, MSc, MBA, Director

Tennessee Volunteer eHealth Project

Vanderbilt University, Nashville, TN

Title:  Regional Health Information Organizations:  Challenges and Opportunities

Session Focus/Summary:

A successful healthcare financing marketplace will require efficient access to comprehensive healthcare information, aligned incentives, and an interactive, consumer-focused approach to healthcare delivery.  Among the many initiatives designed to advance these views is the Federal Government's support of five state and regional demonstration projects in Health Information Technology.  Designed to demonstrate the regional exchange and use of healthcare information across the spectrum of care delivery, these five-year initiatives must both evaluate the impact of health data exchange and develop self-sustaining business models for ongoing operation.  Given a growing consumer demand and a greater requirement for self-directed care in both the insured and self-pay populations, the social, technical, and financial lessons and opportunities afforded by the financial sector seem applicable to these initiatives.  This session is designed to provide an overview of Regional Health Information Organizations (RHIOs).  These organizations are legal constructs to support a wide range of clinical, social, technical, organizational, legal, and regulatory issues central to the formation of a consumer-focused healthcare system that is safe, timely, efficient, and effective.

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will have a greater understanding of the national and regional initiatives directed at creating a National Health Information Infrastructure.

2. Participants will be aware of the opportunities and challenges associated with the Tennessee three-county regional demonstration project supported by a major contract from the agency from Healthcare Quality & Research, the State of Tennessee, and Vanderbilt University.

3. Participants will have identified near-term and short-term opportunities to incorporate their participation with regional and national initiatives.  In addition, participants will form views on how the President's view of an "ownership society", the growing financial burden of healthcare, and inroads in technology infrastructure can present new markets for integrating management of health information with management of health savings accounts and possible other changes to healthcare financing.

Biography:

Mark Frisse serves as Director of Regional Informatics Programs through the Vanderbilt Center for Better Health and as Professor in the Vanderbilt Department of Biomedical Informatics.  In his work at the Vanderbilt Center for Better Health, he is responsible for coordinating regional, state, and national projects aimed at the application of information technology to advance patient care.  His primary focus is on developing a state-wide health information infrastructure to support TennCare patients and on developing a regional demonstration in the Memphis area.  He has also served as a healthcare information technology consultant and as Chief Medical Officer of Express Scripts, one of the nation's leading pharmacy benefits management companies.