(HealthTech Wire/ Interview) - Following the launch of HIMSS Analytics Europe last June, HIMSS Europe is looking to expand its activities into the UK. Jeremy Bonfini, Executive Vice President for Global Services, HIMSS, talks to HealthTech Wire on the potential for HIMSS in the UK.
What role could HIMSS Europe play in the UK?
In the UK because of all the changes being proposed and reforms in the NHS and the way healthcare is delivered in the UK, it is an important time to get things right, in terms of making sure the plans fit the budget. Austerity is the theme all across the continent and now is the 'do-or-die' time for CIOs and IT directors, because now that the great wave of money is ebbing, CEOs government, ministers, departments of health are asking what they are getting for the IT investment. The NHS in England has been investing in Connecting for Health for many years and most governments have been investing in IT programmes. But now they are asking: is it the right level of investment? What is the true return on investment? This is really where HIMSS steps in, to give hospital CEOs, IT directors and CIOs the tools to judge how they are doing compared to their peers and what the true value for money is.
What can HIMSS Europe offer to potential members?
HIMSS has 32,000 individual members worldwide. In addition to the individuals who join, we have the hospital organisation affiliate level where everyone in the hospital can become a member and corporate members. The biggest thing members get is information: the ability to seek out similar experiences from hospitals around the world and even in the UK and what the best practices are. There are tools, resources and training materials. We have training materials for all the way from a nurse to a CIO. We also have a professional credential, called CPHIMS, Certified Professional in Healthcare Information and Management Systems.
How do you see it fitting in with existing IT training professional memberships in the UK, does it complement it?
Absolutely. The CPHIMS is primarily targeted at the C-suite and the IT directors and it may have a more global perspective so it is not very specific to the UK. We offer CPHIMS in the Middle East, Asia, and the US of course. It's not country specific but it covers general professional concepts. CPHIMS is very rigorous; there is a great deal of preparation that is needed and you have to achieve certain professional benchmarks like a masters degree or more advanced degree to be eligible to take it.
Do you feel you could fill a niche in opening up the UK to have a more international outlook?
That is what HIMSS Analytics Europe is going to do. We currently have an analytics business in the US, and Europe and are launching HIMSS Analytics Asia on June 14. We believe that the data and benchmarking tools that we offer are the key items currently missing from the European and Asian markets because there is no source that allows you to benchmark effectively to other hospitals. At the highest level, healthcare systems are extremely different. National systems or regional systems are very different. When it comes to using IT within hospitals, however, it looks very alike worldwide, whether you are in Asia, the US or the UK. The practical matters of assembling IT systems, driving change management, dealing with governance boards, are very similar. That’s really where we see the data that we provide from HIMSS Analytics Europe will be very useful for IT professionals in the UK. We are targeting to survey about 20% of hospitals in 10-12 European countries to obtain the benchmarking data.
What will a CIO be able to do with this data?
A CIO could say: 'I want to see 200 facilities, general hospitals or specialty hospitals, how much they are spending per patient, or how many IT staff they have at the hospital. I want to be able to benchmark my hospital and understand where we fall in the IT investment ecosystem.' The CIO can then go to the CEO and the trust board and say they are either underspending, overspending or are right in the middle of the pack of comparable hospitals.
Have you got any sites in the UK?
HIMSS Analytics Europe was just launched last June and has announced several Stage 6 winners of our EMR Adoption Model from around Europe. We just had our Stage 7 visits two weeks ago so we haven't visited the UK yet. But it is only a matter of time before we have UK hospitals that are evaluated. CIOs that we have contacted feel it is a useful tool that they can adopt. There is no charge to be evaluated on our stage 0-7 EMRAM scale. The only cost is the amount of time they take in completing the survey and those that achieve Stage 6 or 7 are awarded a plaque for their achievements.
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Source: HealthTech Wire
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