The Power of Fully Informed Health

Information is power, and the power of health information will be on display at the Health Current Summit & Trade Show Oct. 30-31 in Glendale, Ariz. Health Current, Arizona’s statewide health information exchange (HIE) offers one of the primary tools for Arizona providers under the statewide prescription monitoring program’s PMP mandate that requires prescribers to check patient prescription histories before prescribing opioid or benzodiazepine drugs. A panel discussion will look at Arizona’s opioid crisis, Arizona’s new PMP mandate as well as a successful PMP implementation at the Nebraska statewide HIE.

The power of health information will be at the heart of the keynote address on Oct. 30 by Brent James, MD, former director of the Institute for Health Care Delivery and Research at Intermountain Healthcare. Internationally known for his work in clinical quality improvement, Dr. James is an advocate for using data to improve quality and lower costs. The keynote address on Oct. 31 will feature a presentation by 2-1-1 San Diego and the San Diego HIE, San Diego’s Health Connect, on their innovative work linking critical social determinants of health to health and community health information exchanges.

Health Current, formerly Arizona Health-e Connection, marks a critical point in its history with the 10th Annual Summit & Trade Show. Over the past two years, Health Current has been the nation’s fastest growing HIE. Today, with more than 375 participating organizations, Health Current has clinical data on 7.5 million unique patients and includes more than 80 of the state’s largest behavioral health providers and most Arizona hospitals. Information on more than 90 percent of Arizona hospital inpatient admissions and emergency department visits flows into the HIE. This allows Health Current to be a resource for providing real-time alerts to community providers on patients that need to be closely followed. The power of this HIE information will be profiled in several HIE use cases that will be presented in breakout sessions at the Summit.

Melissa Kotrys, CEO of Health Current, has been with the organization for almost its entire history and has seen the organization evolve and grow. “It’s rewarding to see the work of so many in the community come to fruition in the organization that Health Current has become,” Kotrys said. “Today, we can offer tangible value that can improve health, whether it is information that protects patient safety in a prescription or information that improves care coordination and patient outcomes. The real excitement, though, is in what is to come. We’re helping our participants realize the power of more complete information.”

The 10th Annual Health Current Summit & Trade Show, “The Power of Fully Informed Health,” will be at the Phoenix/Glendale Renaissance Hotel Oct. 30-31. For more information or to register, visit www.healthcurrent.org/2017-summit-trade-show.