Value-based Purchasing—A Survey of Legal Issues in Context of New Technologies and Biomedical Informatics.

Paul R. DeMuro, JD, MBA, CPA, Partner, Latham & Watkins, LLP

10:45–11:15 a.m.

Networking Break

11:15 a.m.–12:15 p.m.

Plenary Session: Current Issues Impacting the Legal EHR

Unique Patient Identifiers—Public Policy Implications for Health Information Exchange and Data Integrity

Indranil (Neal) Ganguly, MBA, CHIME, HIMSS, Vice President/CIO, Centra State Healthcare System

12:15–1:30 p.m.

Lunch  

1:30–2:45 p.m. 

Panel: Don’t Let Cloud Computing Rain on Your EHR

EHRs in the cloud are expected to be enablers of adoption, particularly among small providers. Cloud vendors promise deliverance from the escalating costs of internal IT, but what are the implications of cloud computing for managing health information?

Panel: Sandra L. Nunn, MA, RHIA, CHP, KAMC Consulting

Daniel Orenstein, Sr. Vice President, General Counsel, and Secretary of the Board, Athena Health, Inc.

Gerard Nussbaum, JD, MS, CPA, RCDD, Director Technology Services, Kurt Salmon Associates

Moderated by Diana Warner, MS, RHIA, CHPS, FAHIMA, Manager, Professional Practice Resources

2:45–3:15 p.m.

Networking Break

3:15–4:15 p.m. 

Concurrent Tracks 

1 a. Litigation Process

E-discovery: The Impact and Influence of electronic health information and EHRs in Medical Liability Litigation: How might your EHR be used in litigation involving e-discovery? This session addresses issues that every litigant must consider in preparing for a trial involving e-discovery and the organization’s EHR.

Stacey Cischke, JD, Partner, Cassiday Schade LLP and Adjunct Professor of Law in the Online Legal Education Beazley Institute for Health Law and Policy, Loyola University Chicago School of Law

1 b. Exchange of Health Information and the Legal EHR  

Legal and Compliance Issues Impacting Interoperable Electronic Records: Since all provider organizations will have to participate in a health information exchange (HIE) to meet the interoperability requirements for Meaningful Use, understanding the legal implications of sharing information with multiple providers is essential. This presentation will identify the legal issues involved with participating in an HIE.

John W. Orth, CDIA+ and Principal Consultant for EMRs, IMERGE Consulting, Inc. and Claudia Egan, JD, Shareholder, von Briesen & Roper

1 c. Patient Engagement and the Legal EHR

Social Media in Healthcare: Healthcare organizations are using social media to facilitate patient communication, support patient care, enhance patient loyalty, and assist organizational marketing efforts. Find out how this compares and contrasts with other industries. Learn what advantages social media has to offer, what liabilities need to be considered, and what steps should be taken when developing social media policy that impacts the legal health record.

Cecilia A. Backman, MBA, RHIA, CPHQ, Associate Director in HIM, Parkland Health & Hospital System

4:15–5:15 p.m. 

Concurrent Tracks 

2 a. Litigation Process

Nightmare Deposition with an EHR: Have you wondered what an EHR records deposition is like? Do you know what questions might be asked of you? Will your policies and procedures adequately address the issues commonly examined in an EHR deposition? This HIM practitioner shares real-life experience and offers a candid account of an experience that taught her how to prepare for a deposition involving an EHR.

Debra S. Nelson, RHIT, Director HIM, Trinity Health

2 b. Exchange of Health Information and the Legal EHR

The Role of HIEs in the Compliance Continuum: As a result of Federal ARRA stimulus funding, health information exchanges (HIEs) are being established in a number of states. A number of different HIE models are being deployed, with varying degrees of authority to promulgate statewide regulations affecting the collection, storage, disclosure, and exchange of electronic records containing protected health information (PHI). This presentation will provide a survey of the emerging HIE environment across the US, and explore the role of state-level HIEs in the “compliance continuum,” composed of federal, state, and local government licensing and enforcement authorities, local and regional HIEs, healthcare organizations, industry associations, standards organizations, and private sector litigants

Mark A. Chudzinski, JD, MBA, General Counsel, Illinois Office of Health Information Technology (OHIT)

Patient Experience and the Legal EHR: The ability of a patient to receive and use EHRs is a wonderful 21st century accomplishment for the healthcare industry—as long as the data are accurate! This session looks at common documentation mistakes and system design flaws in the EHR from a patient’s perspective and discusses best practices for maintaining data integrity in the health record for legal purposes. With greater access to their records in an electronic environment, patients are empowered to challenge the accuracy of their health information. This presentation will focus on how healthcare organizations can work with patients to ensure their records are accurate.

Deborah Kohn, MPH, RHIA, CPHIMS, FACHE, FHIMSS, Principal, Dak Systems Consulting

5:30–6:30 p.m. 

Evening Reception 

Tuesday, August 16, 2011

7:15–8:15 a.m.

Registration/Continental Breakfast

8:15–9:15 a.m.

Panel: EHR Vendors’ Perspective on Issues Related to the Legal Health Record  

Health IT vendors will discuss the challenges and opportunities associated with ensuring that electronic health record software can meet regulatory compliance and business needs while supporting patient safety, cost efficiency, and quality initiatives.

Moderator: Barbara M. Drury, FHIMSS, President, Pricare Inc.

Participants: Michael Stearns, MD, President and CEO, eMDs

Marc E. Elkins, Vice President, Associate General Counsel and Assistant Secretary, Cerner Corporation

Network Break

9:45–10:45 a.m. 

Concurrent Tracks 

3 a. Legal and Compliance Processes

Compliance Risks Related to Implementation of EHRs: EHRs will greatly impact an organization’s risk profile, and the way that medical records are accessed, utilized, and managed. This presentation provides you with a foundation to understand how regulations promulgated under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act will impact EHRs and what compliance risk areas should be evaluated by organizations with existing or new EHRs.

Bobbi Bonnet, RN, MPA, Senior Practice Leader, National Compliance, Ethics, and Integrity Office, Kaiser Permanente

3 b. Exchange of Health Information and the Legal EHR

Release of Information Policies and Processes–Bridges or Barriers to Patient Engagement? This presentation will explore operational considerations surrounding release of information (ROI) in the transition from paper to electronic health records (EHRs) with specific emphasis on the impact of ROI policies and process on patient engagement in their healthcare.

Kim Murphy-Abdouch MPH, RHIA, FACHE, Clinical Assistant Professor, HIM Department, Texas State University

3 c. Informatics and the Legal Process

How Clinical Decision Support Aids E-discovery and Clinical Quality Investigations: This session describes the key features and functionality of clinical decision support systems and discusses how they provide  a valuable tool in the aiding of healthcare electronic discovery and clinical investigations and what information can learned from these systems.

Kimberly A. Baldwin-Stried Reich, MBA, MJ, RHIA, CPHQ, Johns Hopkins School of Medicine 

Nana Kwadwo Boadu, MS, Graduate Student, Hopkins University Division of Health Sciences Informatics

Concurrent Tracks

4 a. Legal and Compliance Processes

E-discovery and Records of External Entities: From an e-Discovery and data reporting perspective, what are you doing to manage multiple data systems? From a patient care perspective, the records of external entities are integral and become part of the information used to provide care. This creates challenges when it comes to the “Meet and Confer” requirements under FRCP Rule 26(f) as well as compliance with federal and state data reporting requirements. This thought-provoking session will explore the legal issues associated with incorporating external records into the healthcare facility’s EHR and where the responsibility lies for production and reporting under federal e-discovery rules and federal and state data reporting requirements.

Allison J. Bloom, Esq., EMT, EMS-I, Attorney at Law, Law Office of Allison J. Bloom

4 b. Exchange of Health Information and the Legal EHR
How Laws Protecting the Use/Disclosure of Sensitive Health Information Affect an Electronic Data Exchange: Attendees will leave this session with a better understanding of key federal and state restrictions on the use and disclosure of sensitive health information; how these special protections affect an EHR and HIE; and how to address these challenges and minimize risk. Key aspects of the federal and industry trajectory in this arena will be addressed.

Rani Singh, JD, Principal Counsel, University of California Office of General Counsel 

4 c. Regulatory Compliance

New Rules: Accounting for Disclosures in the Age of Accountability    

Kelly McLendon, RHIA, CHPS, President, Health Information Xperts, LLC

Shotgun Weddings in Under-resourced Provider Settings: Implications of the Rush to Adopt EHRs

Barbara Drury, FHIMSS President,  Pricare, Inc.

August 15 - 16, 2011 | Westin Chicago River North | Chicago, IL

The 2011 Legal EHR Conference provides the latest information and industry expert perspectives on current and emerging issues affecting the legal electronic health record (EHR), data authenticity, evidentiary support, and records management. This conference of over 200 high-level attendees addresses key issues in the management of EHRs in order to support the legal and business needs of healthcare organizations. Download the exhibitor prospectus here. 

In order to reserve an exhibit table please submit the application to exhibit. For further information, please contact Sarah Lawler, Exhibits Manager at (312) 233-1102 or sarah.lawler@ahima.org