Rocket Fuel for Innovation: The 2011 MMIS Conference

Deltek Analyst Kate Tussey reports.

Last week I attended the 2011 Medicaid management information system (MMIS) conference in Austin, Texas. Despite record-breaking heat, the conference was packed with innovators from across the country, all eager to discuss key initiatives and changes impacting the Medicaid space. As you can imagine, between the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health Act (HITECH), and ICD-10 (International Classification of Diseases), there was much to talk about. Deltek will be providing an analyst recap for download later this week, but I thought I would go ahead and highlight some of the key trends threaded throughout the sessions along with my favorite moments during the five-day conference.

The conference organizers could not have picked anyone better than Todd Park, chief technology officer of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, to present the keynote address. Park laid out a formula he thinks defines this moment of historic opportunity in health care: new incentives + information liberation + data exchanges/next generation Medicaid = the rocket fuel for innovation. New incentives provided by the ACA change how we pay for care, shifting from “pay for volume of services” toward “pay for health and value.” Payment reform will motivate and reward innovation at a whole new level. Information liberation is essential as patient data liquidity makes it easier for data to follow the patient around. Next generation systems and exchanges depend on innovative technology to provide a “no wrong-door” experience for the consumer. Park proclaimed that if you are working in the health care arena and love information technology and data, then there is no better place to be right now.

For the complete blog, go here.