Ohio's 6th Annual HIT Day to Spotlight Advocacy Groups

Next Thursday, April 11, the sixth annual Ohio Healthcare Information Technology (HIT) Day will take place at the Atrium of the Ohio Statehouse.

Slated as a main focus for the event is the economic future of the Buckeye State, in regard to its medical spending. Legislators and HIT advocates will be able to share ideas about how to invest and save funds as healthcare needs within the state rise.  

Medicaid is sure to be a heated topic at the day's discussions. “Almost 40 percent of Ohio's total budget is allocated to fund Medicaid," said State Senator David Burke, who represents the 26th Senate District in Ohio. “We need to ensure that these funds are spent wisely and HIT is able to reduce some of the waste that exists in the current system."

Burke, who is also a pharmacist, will be kicking the day off with opening remarks. Featured speakers to follow include the director of the Governor's Office of Health Transformation, Greg Moody; the president of the Health Policy Institute of Ohio, Amy Rohling-McGee; the CEO for the Ohio Health Information Partnership, Dan Paoletti; and Trudi Mathews, the director of public policy and relations for HealthBridge.

Joining forces to sponsor the program are a legion of HIT advocacy groups including the Central & Southern Ohio HIMSS Chapter (CSOHIMSS), Northern Ohio HIMSS Chapter (NOHIMSS), Ohio Health Information Management Association (OHIMA) and College of Healthcare Information Management Executives (ChiME).

Collectively, the sponsoring organizations hold thousands of HIT advocates of varying position.

CSOHIMSS, NOHIMSS, OHIMA and CHiME are made up of Health IT professionals, including technology specialists, clinicians, healthcare workers, nurses, vendors and students. OHIMA brings credentialed specialists in the field of health information management to the table. NOHIMSS serves the greater Cleveland area, and CSOHIMSS serves the remainder of Ohio.

CHiME is an organization dedicated to serving chief information officers and other senior healthcare IT figures.