On Jan. 31, 2013, the Western PA Chapter of the Health Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) and UPMC’s Center for Connected Medicine will co-host a program focusing on the use of business systems and emerging technology that can help address key trends and reshape healthcare in the next decade.
The event, which will be held from 2-8 p.m. at the Center for Connected Medicine in the USX Tower, Downtown Pittsburgh. It will feature keynote speaker Greg Porter, founder of Allegheny Digital, adjunct faculty member at the H. John Heinz III College at Carnegie Mellon University and visiting scientist at the Software Engineering Institute, as well as a panel that includes healthcare information technology executives who represent a continuum of participant organizations in the Health Care Value Chain.
Confirmed speakers include:
- Moderator Michael Cassidy, JD, CHC, shareholder and director of Tucker Arensberg, P.C. and chair of the firm’s Health Law Practice Group, will focus on the application and use of technology to address key trends described by Dr. Luis Pareras M.D., Ph.D. (www.Healthonomics.org). Mr. Cassidy is a shareholder in the firm’s Business and Finance Department and concentrates his practice in Health Care Law. He is also a member of the Employee Benefits Practice Group.
- Speaker Greg Porter, is the founder of Allegheny Digital, a western Pennsylvania-based information security services company specializing in health care driven managed security services, incident response and enterprise risk management. Mr. Porter also serves as an adjunct faculty member of H. John Heinz III College at Carnegie Mellon University, where he teaches information security and privacy related subject matter within the college’s graduate level health care programs. He maintains several information security related certifications and is a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) and a Certified Information Security Manager (CISM). Allegheny Digital is a partner of Carnegie Mellon’s Software Engineering Institute, where Mr. Porter also serves as a visiting scientist.
- Panelist James F. Jordan is the senior director, Healthcare & Biotechnology Programs, Distinguished Service Professor in Healthcare & Biotechnology Management,
Carnegie Mellon University. Mr. Jordan is an accomplished global Fortune 20-level executive and a recognized expert in market development and guiding the successful formation of entrepreneurial startup businesses in the Life Sciences Industry.
- Panelist Jody Cervenak, principal at Aspen Advisors, has more than 20 years of experience in planning, implementing and leading healthcare information technology solutions. She has directed multiple information technology strategy projects with large academic medical center and integrated delivery systems. She has also led many IT initiatives and held various IT management roles supporting clinical and business solutions. Most notably, Ms. Cervenak led the effort to integrate and standardize systems across enterprise in support of the hospital and physician mergers and acquisitions. Before joining Aspen Advisors, she served as the chief information officer (CIO) of the Physician Division of UPMC and in the consulting division of a Big-8 accounting firm [Arthur Andersen & Co./Andersen Consulting (currently Accenture)].
- Panelist Dianne Emminger, MBA, is vice president of Information Services at ACMH Hospital in Kittanning, Pa. She has 40 years’ experience in IT management: half within the engineering and manufacturing industry and half within the healthcare field.
- Panelist Dr. Andrew Rose Watson is an actively practicing surgeon in the division of colorectal surgery and specializes in minimally invasive colorectal and inflammatory bowel disease surgery. He is a vice president of the International and Commercial Service Division, helps lead industrial relations for UPMC and plays a key role integrating health care information technology into clinical practice. Dr. Watson, who has played a lead role in establishing telemedicine for UPMC at an enterprise level, joined UPMC’s IT management in 2010. He also serves as the executive director for Business Development and Technology for Telemedicine, and is the medical director of UPMC’s Center for Connected Medicine.
- Panelist Walter Whitten Jr. is currently serving as the CIO for Quality Life Services (QLS) based in Butler, Pa., which owns and operates eight long-term care facilities, seven personal care homes and a pharmacy (all located in western Pennsylvania). He has more than 15 years’ experience in the IT field, which has focused on business continuity services, healthcare and enabling the mobile workforce. His responsibilities include managing a staff of IT professionals, as well as an Informatics Group, at QLS. Current projects include exploring more effective uses of our current electronic medical records system, developing a complete business continuity plan and designing/developing better ways to keep staff active and not tied to a desk or nurses’ station. One of QLS’ key strategic visions is working with other health organizations to find ways of being incorporated into patients’ complete health care solutions.
Registration is now open at www.wphimss.org. For more information, contact Robert Sheesley, president of the Western Pennsylvania Chapter of HIMSS, by email at [email protected] or by calling (412) 454-8901.
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