Announcement from:
Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC)
For immediate release: September 13, 2016

For more information:
Tom Reavis, Arizona Health-e Connection
Tom.reavis@azhec.org | (480) 297-3509

2nd Annual Conference Highlights Growth and Maturation of National HIE Organization Scottsdale Resort at McCormick Ranch, Scottsdale, Arizona September 18-21, 2016

The second annual conference of the Strategic Health Information Exchange Collaborative (SHIEC), marks a watershed event for this national trade association for community and regional health information exchanges (HIEs). The 2016 conference, which will be held in Scottsdale, Arizona on September 18-21, 2016 will focus on key projects and issues facing HIEs across the country and will also demonstrate the rapid growth of the national organization. More than 50 speakers and presentations are scheduled, and attendance, which is open to SHIEC members and invited guests along with limited event sponsors, is anticipated to be around 250 individuals. Registration for the event is now closed.

The robust attendance and strong technology sponsor support are impressive indicators of the growth influence of SHIEC, according to Dick Thompson, Chair of the SHIEC Board and Executive Director and CEO of Quality Health Network based in Grand Junction, Colorado. “The SHIEC membership has seen impressive growth in the last year, having reached 40 voting member HIEs in August of 2016. SHIEC’s growth demonstrates that the members share a common vision and trust each other. This trust fosters long-term collaborative relationships, working together to share best practices and solutions for sustainable operations that drive interoperability to improve the health of the patients we serve,” Thompson said.

The conference will feature a keynote address by Jon White, MD, Deputy National Coordinator for Health Information Technology of the Department of Health & Human Services. The conference will also include a general session and breakout discussion on several successful pilots by SHIEC member organizations of Patient Centered Data Homes™ (PCDH), a cost-effective, scalable method of exchanging patient information among HIEs in real time.  Other topics and presentations include collaboration with payers; Medicaid 90/10 funding opportunities for HIEs; prescription drug monitoring and HIEs; MACRA, MIPS & value-based healthcare and many other presentations and break-out sessions.

The real value of the conference goes well beyond the content of the presentations, according to Thompson. “The SHIEC Annual conference is an important venue for relationship building among the membership. Further, it offers the opportunity for us to share in dialogue with our supporting strategic business and technology partners to engage them in helping us achieve our collective vision. We are very pleased with the quality and interest in the conference program content, the number of conference attendees and sponsoring organizations,” Thompson said.

The conference will also include the annual SHIEC business meeting which will include the election of this year’s slate of Board of Director’s positions up for election.