The 2018 Health Current Summit & Trade Show brought together more than 330 attendees for two-days of presentations and discussions with the theme of Integrated HIE: The Progress of Patient-Centered Care. Held December 3 – 4, 2018 at the Renaissance Phoenix/Glendale Hotel & Spa in Glendale, Arizona for the second straight year, the event featured several national speakers and panel discussions around data quality, social determinants of health and how Health Current participants are using Arizona’s health information exchange (HIE) to improve care coordination and healthcare outcomes. The two-day event featured over 30 speakers, 12 breakout sessions, an exhibit hall with many technology solution providers and the presentation of the Health IT Leader and Innovation Awards. 

Tom Leary, Vice-President of Government Relations for the Health Information Management Systems Society (HIMSS) kicked off the open session with a discussion of the national legislative landscape and a forward-looking perspective on the health information technology outlook for healthcare providers and organizations. The Monday noon keynote speaker featured David Kendrick, MD, CEO, of MyHealth Access, who discussed how better data and improved quality are community goals of HIE. Dr. Kendrick brought an important national perspective as the incoming Board chair for the National Committee for Quality Assurance (NCQA) and as Senior Counsel on Interoperability to Office of the National Coordinator for Health IT (ONC).

The two-day event concluded with an update from the Practice Innovation Institute (Pii) and the overall success of Pii practices for advancing successfully through the five phases of transformation of the Transforming Clinical Practice Initiative (TCPi) of the Centers of Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS). The 2018 Summit & Trade Show also marked the second year that the event was presented in collaboration with the Practice Innovation Institute.

The Health Current Summit & Trade Show, now in its eleventh year, is the largest Health IT event in Arizona but more importantly, it brings a variety of attendees and HIE participants together from around the state including first responders, reference labs, hospitals, community providers and behavioral health providers, long-term care facilities, home care and hospice providers to network, learn and share best practices to forward the progress of integrated patient-centered care.

Plans are already underway for the 2019 event which will be held in November 2019.