What 's Happening at AEGIS?
Over the course of the last several years AEGIS has been a sought after expert on standards-based conformance and interoperability testing and routinely called upon by industry for our participation in workgroups, panels, and symposiums with healthcare organizations and standards development bodies. Below is a short list of our recent contributions including a recap of AEGIS’ activities and participation in industry:
Integrating the Healthcare Enterprise (IHE) North American Connectathon:
From the AEGIS blog, AEGIS Insights: “The 2015 North American IHE Connectathon ran from January 26 through January 30 in a new venue at the Cleveland Convention Center near the Lake Erie waterfront. I mention “near the waterfront” because, unlike the Chicago basement dungeon of years past, we had a floor-to-ceiling wall of windows at this Connectathon. What a difference it is to be able to see the world outside!
The AEGIS team was honored to attend for the 5th year in a row, this time with a primary focus on facilitating the testing of the Family Planning IHE profile on behalf of the HHS Office of Population Affairs (OPA). The Family Planning Profile (FPP) was being exercised for the first time at this Connectathon-not the easiest situation for a profile sponsor or profile testers. Nevertheless, all the FPP teams were ready.”
Read the rest of the story in the post, “7 Things I learned at the 2015 IHE NA Connectathon.”
Healthcare Information & Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Annual Conference and Exhibition:
As a Gold Corporate Member - AEGIS participated in our sixth HIMSS Annual Conference & Exhibition. This conference brings together 44,000+ healthcare IT professionals, clinicians, executives and vendors from around the world to discuss health IT issues and view innovative solutions designed to transform healthcare. Over the last six years AEGIS is proud to have not only participated as a vendor but also to have supported our Federal clients in the HIMSS Interoperability Showcase. A highlight for AEGIS at this year’s HIMSS Conference in Chicago was the Monday evening cruise we hosted for many friends from the health IT community on Lake Michigan aboard the Odyssey enjoying good food, drink, and music while taking in the Windy City’s skyline.
Health Level Seven (HL7®) International:
As a current HL7 Benefactor and national leader in the innovation of Health IT interoperability, testing, analytics, and informatics - AEGIS supports HL7®’s goal of achieving healthcare interoperability that will lead to better health outcomes and improve security and patient safety. Over the course of the last couple of years, AEGIS has played an active role in accelerating the development and adoption of the HL7 Fast Healthcare Interoperability Resources (FHIR®) specification as an integral author and contributor to the standard. For several years AEGIS has been actively participating in quarterly HL7® Plenary & Work Group Meetings (WGMs) and FHIR® Connectathons covering a full range of HL7-specific topics such as Version 2.x Implementation, Version 3, and the Clinical Document Architecture (CDA®), FHIR®, Meaningful Use in the US, Electronic Health Records, and Vocabulary Terminology among others. At these meetings staff is heavily involved in the following activities:
- Participating and continuing the work we started over a year ago with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and Immunization Information Systems (IIS) with the on-going development of the FHIR® Immunization Forecasting interfaces;
- Collaborating on furthering our FHIR® testing capabilities in the Developers Integration Lab (DIL) in support of our HL7® Conformance Testing Program; and
- Participating in HL7 Connectathons in North America and Europe including this year’s event in Paris.
HL7 and AEGIS have partnered to offer the HL7 Conformance Testing Program which helps healthcare IT developers speed time to market by providing a cost-effective platform for ongoing, iterative testing of conformance and interoperability with HL7 standards.
* FHIR® is the registered trademark of Health Level Seven International.
Health Datapalooza Conference:
Health Datapalooza is a national conference focused on liberating health data, and bringing together the companies, startups, academics, government agencies, and individuals with the newest and most innovative and effective uses of health data to improve patient outcomes. Through our participation at this year’s event, we continued to emphasize a standards-based approach to testing. Mario Hyland, Senior Vice President & Founder, attended to express that the mission from AEGIS is to support the advancement and interoperable longitudinal records by following industry-based standards lead by American National Standards Institute (ANSI) accredited standards development organizations. "We are on the front-lines helping to educate industry to ask the tough questions." All too often - we see numerous product advancements in the clinical settings with limited integration into an enterprise infrastructure. The “live demo” of the AEGIS Developers Integration Lab (DIL) by Mr. Hyland was well-received by the attendees of the event with lots of questions about the proven use of the product by both industry and government programs.
For details of other places AEGIS has been recently, check out our blog, AEGIS Insights, where we regularly announce what we’ve been up to:
- NIEM in November
- American Medical Informatics Association (AMIA) Annual Symposium
- Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) Forum
- eHealth Initiative Annual Conference
Finally, here’s a sampling of what we’re planning to do in the second half of 2015:
Community Participation in the Beacon Health Options 3rd Annual Stamp Out Stigma Golf event:
Beacon Health Options, a health improvement company specializing in mental and emotional wellbeing and recovery, is holding its 3rd Annual Stamp Out Stigma Golf Outing for the Wounded Warrior Project. AEGIS continues to be a proud sponsor of this event supporting our client in its community projects. The proceeds from the outing will help the Wounded Warrior Project provide a wide range of assistance programs that address physical, mental and professional needs for those who have been wounded in combat and their families. In addition to raising funds in support of Wounded Warrior Project, the golf outing promotes Stamp Out Stigma, an initiative created to address the prevalence of mental illness and to help discourage stigma as a barrier to recovery. The event places a special emphasis on post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and its impact on service members returning from combat and their loved ones.
HL7 FHIR Institute and Meaningful Use Standards Implementation Workshop:
In our own backyard, AEGIS will participate in this highly regarded HL7 event. The HL7 FHIR® Institute provides resources and training for the next generation standards framework created by HL7. It focuses on helping the industry understand why this standard is so important, its power to change and improve the current interoperability landscape, and on helping students master its implementation. Training at the FHIR Institute includes both face-to-face and virtual events and is targeted at software developers, implementers and executives. An HL7 Implementation Workshop is a three-day educational event where live hands-on workshops, specially selected by the HL7 Education Work Group, are taught to those interested in learning more about implementing the HL7 standards and related work products. The workshops allow attendees to get in depth hands on training in addition to presentation style tutorials. These workshops focus on HL7 specific topics such as Version 2, QRDA, Clinical Document Architecture (CDA®) and FHIR.
eHealth Initiative's 2015 iTHRIVE Innovation Challenge:
This year the event will seek to find the best and the brightest health IT entrepreneurs and lead discussions about breakthrough solutions to today’s toughest health system challenges. iTHRIVE 2015 will also provide networking and information-sharing opportunities to individuals and companies pushing the boundaries of better health care delivery. Because AEGIS plays an integral part in propelling health care innovation and creative problem-solving forward, our attendance helps support our global expertise in interoperability, information sharing, standards, conformance and functional testing.
Defense Health IT Symposium (DHITS):
For a second straight year, AEGIS will be a familiar face at the Defense Health Information Technology Symposium. The theme this year is Change is Inevitable: Supporting the MHS through Health IT. This year's symposium will be held August 18-20, 2015, at the Caribe Royale Hotel in Orlando, FL. DHITS brings together participants from the Military Health System (MHS), the Defense Health Agency (DHA) and Military Services Health IT community and provides a platform to interact and discuss strategic changes, direction, the concept of shared services, and initiatives of the MHS, the DHA, and the new Electronic Health Record program. Individuals working in the field of IM/IT within the MHS and DHA are encouraged to attend.
87th Annual AHIMA Convention and Exhibit:
AEGIS will participate again as a presenter in the conference. This year the 87th AHIMA Convention and Exhibit, themed “HIM Without Walls,” will explore the role health information plays in healthcare today and how professionals across the healthcare eco-system use and share this information. Interactive presentations and panels will discuss how information must be governed to ensure accuracy and maintain patient privacy. If you will be attending the conference scheduled September 26 - 30, 2015 in New Orleans, LA - don’t miss our presentation What Would Happen If Airlines Practiced One & Done Testing? -Testing as a Shared Service.
