"We're getting the band back together." - Elwood Blues

We have decided to break out of our usual "TEPR in May, NCE in October" routine this year. Instead, in an effort to support and get closer to our core constituency - real, live pediatricians! - we will be attending the following AAP State/Regional shows, in addition to the NCE in Boston:

Wisconsin AAP "Not Your Dad's CME" - April 18-20, Milwaukee
Georgia AAP "Pediatrics by the Sea" - June 1-3, Amelia Island
Arizona AAP "Pediatrics in the Red Rocks" - June 20-22, Sedona
North Carolina Pediatric Society Annual Meeting - August 15-17, Myrtle Beach
Texas Pediatric Society Annual Meeting - September 18-21, Houston
AAP National Conference and Exhibition - October 11-14, Boston
California District IX Las Vegas Seminars - November 20-23, Las Vegas

This is a pretty good geographic mix, with enough time to catch our breath between events. (We're not as young as we used to be.) If you are an existing customer who is planning to attend one of these shows, please let us know: We'd love to catch up with you while we're there. If you've been considering OP and would like an in-person demo, this is the ideal opportunity to spend some quality time one-on-one.

If this effort goes well, we intend to repeat it next year, with some new times and locations. Please let us know about any other recommendations for sponsorable/exhibitable events.

We recently sat down to evaluate where OP stands relative to CCHIT certification standards, because the 2008 specification FINALLY includes a Child Health module. Prior to this year, it was possible for an EMR to be CCHIT certified but NOT be entirely suitable for pediatric use. This new certification will rectify that situation.

As our users are well aware through their daily use of the product, we believe OP is in very good shape to pass the 2008 certification suite with minimal changes. In large part, this is due to our annual participation in the AAP Documentation Challenges, which has kept us state-of-the-art in terms of pediatric features. Also, we undertook an initiative last year to make the current release of OP compliant with the AAP white paper authored by Dr. Spooner last March.

Full compliance with the CCHIT specification does require a few workflow changes, so we would like to convene a small panel of existing OP users to review our plans before implementing them fully. If you have an interest in helping us with this project, please contact me directly. Time is of the essence, as we would like to get into the first 2008 certification cycle in May.

Sue and I went to a two-day conference in Washington, DC on February 7 and 8 to discuss how to increase physician usage of Immunization Information Systems (AKA Immunization Registries). Along with Stuart Weinberg of Vanderbilt University, Sue was the official AAP representative to the conference. Our task was to develop recommendations for the National Vaccine Advisory Council in three major areas. Sue spoke on physician incentives, Stu talked about regulatory issues, and there was a third panel about more stable funding for these services. I tagged along and ended up being the only representative of an EMR vendor who actually has to figure out how to make EMRs and IISs interoperable.

You may be surprised to learn that most registries offer web pages to enter and look up vaccination records, but almost none offer a service that allows these records to be imported directly into EMRs, the way OP can import insurance eligibility and benefits. That's coming (slowly), but not as quickly as anyone would like. Over the next year, most of us would just settle for everyone agreeing to adopt a common set of standards, because OP now offers connectivity to almost 20 different registries, and no two are exactly alike (though some are close).

Also, there are numerous regulatory barriers to using these systems effectively on an interstate basis. For example, if a patient moved from, say, New Jersey to New York, there is no way to make their old NJ records available electronically to their selected NY doctor. Crazy, huh? Everyone cites Katrina as an IIS success story, but the truth is that it took special legislation to allow interconnectivity between LINKS (the LA registry) and the other states where the population scattered after the hurricane.

This meeting was a follow-on to the AAP/AIRA conference we attended last September. Sue hit all the summary points from that meeting, such as the need for uniform standards, bi-directional connectivity, and a customizable medical decision-making algorithm based on current ACIP standards. She also tried to emphasize that doctors care far more about the value of their time and workflows than small cash incentives to participate in registries (though cash is always nice!). "Pediatricians wholeheartedly support universal immunization, and we believe in sharing this information with each other... Build it right, and we will come," was her basic mantra. I hope they were listening. When the final report comes out, I will summarize it here.

I made some good contacts with registries OP has not yet built interfaces for, like Rhode Island and Houston. I also made a commitment with one well-known registry to participate in some groundbreaking work that should bear fruit around the middle of this year. Watch this space...