In the latest installment of our HIMSS12 blog series, John Tempesco of ICA is interviewed. John serves as chief marketing officer, is an ACHE and Life Management Institute Fellow, and has 34 years of healthcare experience. To view earlier installments please click here.

Dodge: What do you expect will be the theme of conversations at this year’s HIMSS show?

Tempesco: I think there will be three key threads that will run through the conference. One will be about ACOs, their value proposition, and how they will affect all kinds of technology, especially interoperability. This thread will give a good value-based reason for exchanging information, creating interoperability solutions and lead toward the next thread, which is value reimbursement.

Secondly, in addition to ACOs, there is a real focus on value-based reimbursement. Everyone wants to get out of piecework healthcare and start reimbursing healthcare based on results.

The last topic, since we are in an election year, will be about the politics of healthcare. There will be discussions about who will win the election, and what will happen to healthcare especially as it relates to healthcare IT. And, will there be a continued push for interoperability solutions, health information exchange, with the future of direct – all of those things that the current administration is pushing.

Dodge: How is ICA approaching its overall strategy for HIMSS?

Tempesco: Our strategy this year is to engage other vendors to be more collaborative in their approach to solving healthcare issues. None of us can do what is necessary to really change healthcare in isolation, so we want to engage as many vendors as possible to share data with each other in a way that will result in improved quality, reduced cost and satisfying patients, providers and payers. We believe that this approach will form that basis for the overall health IT industry to work toward a single goal of creating an infrastructure that will enable healthcare entities to form ACOs, gather necessary information and report back to payers, patients and employers as to whether or not they are getting value for the dollars they are spending.

Dodge: What are you looking forward to most this year at HIMSS and what are you hoping to gain from attending the conference?

Tempesco: We have two key areas we are looking forward to this year. The first is launching our new stepped approach to establishing rapid value-based interoperability across the healthcare continuum.  This approach defines and segments the steps necessary to achieve an ACO, a value-based reimbursement model or a private or public HIE. What we’ve seen in the past is that people are buying a solution they think will get them to HIE nirvana, when they aren’t conceptually ready for the many steps necessary to get them there, and they don’t see the actual success they’ve achieved along the way. What we’ve done is break our application into five solutions, some separate and some interconnected, all of which enable rapid deployment and results. They include a standards based interoperability solution; a communication capability; collaborative care enhancements that allow building on the first two and create advanced care coordination capabilities; data analysis and reporting; and a full ACO capability. We’re looking forward to rolling out this new CareAlign methodology, and showing the industry how to progress through those steps when creating an HIE or ACO.

The second big item, going back to our collaborative approach with other vendors, is launching our ICA Extreme Testing Center, or ICAetc. It is a free virtual playground where vendors can test their interoperability capabilities anytime. It is free, vendor-agnostic and allows end–to-end transactions between vendors without restrictions on scenarios or data elements. Vendors can see whether or not what they’re developing is going to meet the requirements of others in the marketplace.

Dodge: What can we expect to see in the HIE space in 2012?

Tempesco: Over the past year, it has become very difficult to define what exactly an HIE is. Last year HIE was a big theme of HIMSS and was a major part of most vendor booths. I believe we have now reached a tipping point in the industry. There are currently enough HIEs deployed that we’re beginning to see the same issues with sharing information among HIEs as we saw with vendors. There will be two major issues in the HIE space this year. The first is how to get the standards to work with each other so HIE and HIT vendors can share information in a collaborative way. The second is the question of where do we go from here.  Once there is information being shared, how can it be used to make a difference within healthcare by reducing costs and improving quality and satisfaction?

Dodge: Where can we find ICA at HIMSS12?

Tempesco: We’ll be at booth #4831 and our client Janet King, executive director/eHealth director of Middle Tennessee eHealth Connect/THA will be presenting a lecture on strategies for building a sustainable HIE through expansion and continuum-wide provider inclusion.

Two years ago, many of us in healthcare IT were wowed by the creativity found in Ross Martin’s three part “interoperetta.” The video summed up the complexities of the Health Information Technology for Economic and Clinical Health (HITECH) Act in just under four minutes through the lyrical mastermix. Check out our blog post “Singing the praises of the HITECH Act” to see the video if you happened to miss it.

While HITECH was the word on the street in 2009, Ross Martin is back again with yet another entertaining and creative video… this time with an edge! For 2011, Martin has taken on Meaningful Use, through his “Meaningful Yoose Rap” and we certainly couldn’t pass up the opportunity to share his unique lessons on how physicians can get yo’ 44 g’s for doing meaning yoose!

Huh? It may sound ridiculous, but it illustrates one of the most significant marketing and PR challenges facing healthcare IT companies today. Many innovative healthcare companies are pioneering products and services that are ahead of the market—helping improve patient safety, enabling better care delivery or delivering greater efficiencies to business operations. Yet your prospect often doesn’t even realize they HAVE the pain your product sets out to ease. And if they do recognize the pain, they probably have no clue that a product exists that can ease that pain. And if, miraculously, they DO know that such a product exists, it’s highly unlikely that they know that it’s YOUR company that has the best product available.

Until your market acknowledges the need for your offering, it’s futile to plaster the healthcare equivalent of “safe” or “best available” all over your ads, collateral and trade show exhibit.

If you fall into the “ahead of the market” category, here are three communication tips to deliver compelling messages and maximize the chance your market will understand that you exist, you can ease their pain, and you’re the best at what you do.

1. Get out of the inner circle:
   The fastest way to see if your messages resonate is to test them on someone who is a total stranger to the industry. A spouse, for example. Or a friend. Take a minute to deliver your 60 second elevator pitch (what’s an elevator pitch?) and see if they understand what it is you do and why it should make any difference. You’ll probably find that there is significant jargon in your pitch that others don’t understand. (ask about “interoperability,” “SaaS,” or even “portal.”) And it’s not just jargon. We assume that most people are familiar with the same things we are. (Case in point: This Ingenix study shows that fewer than HALF of physicians are familiar with ARRA and the impact it will have on their practices. Wouldn’t you have thought that number would be more like 100% given the attention we’ve all paid it over the last year?) Break down your pitch so it’s understandable by anyone.
2. Adjust on the fly:
   You don’t want to talk over their heads, but you don’t want to talk down to them. How can you get the right level, often when you don’t even know the audience’s level of understanding? An effective communications technique is assume-they-know-but-explain-anyway. “You probably know a lot about interoperability—where disparate computers communicate and share information with other computers—right, Mr. Prospect?” It’s a win-win technique. If they already know, you’re covered. If they don’t, they can save the embarrassment by saying they know now that you’ve helped them with a definition.
   Another gauging technique is to ask. What a concept. “Before I get into some of the technical details of our service, I want to get an undertstanding of how familiar you are with these technologies.” They’ll help you level-set the subsequent portion of the presentation so that you’re presenting at just the right level.
3. Category first. Benefits second.
   Walk around a tradeshow floor or peruse home pages of vendor sites and you’ll be surprised how often you will have no idea what companies do. There’s often a focus on “save money, reduce costs, improve efficiency” without any mention of how. Yet without an understanding of what category you’re in, (are you a consulting organization or a software developer? A product company or a services company?) benefits like these will not resonate with the buyer. They’ll walk on by without your brand having made an impression in their mind. Let the market know who you are first. Then, tell them why that’s important to them.We hear it all the time. “Our product is unique.” “No-one does what we do.” “We don’t really fit into a category.” “Our category is new.” “We’re so different than the category the market wants to put us in.”
   Let’s assume all that is true. You still need to make the potential buyer aware of what you do. Take the car example. A crossover is still a car, even though it’s something more/different/special. So, the communications technique used is this: “You’re familiar with a car, right? Well, the crossover I’d like to sell you starts with that concept, and from there it’s more/different/special.” Same idea selling technology to the healthcare industry. The audience needs to understand where you’re starting from in order to understand what you have. It’s like, “You’re familiar with a consultant, right? Well, we’re like that except we’re more/different/special. Or, “You’re familiar with how hospitals are using the Internet to help communicate with others? Take that idea and add this new, new thing.” Letting the audience have a baseline of understanding from which to start will take you a long way towards having them understand your offering.

There is a lot of noise out there. It’s hard for the market to understand it all—all the opportunities available to them. The harder you work at keeping your message simple, clear, understandable and relevant, the quicker you’ll achieve the elevated levels of brand awareness that translate to company growth.

Looking to get more out of Twitter? Avid users and newcomers alike can easily expand their industry knowledge, stay on top of the latest trends and monitor best practices − all by following the right mix of associations, pundits and experts. Here’s a brief guide to get you started:

1. Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (@HIMSS). Few PR and marketing professionals in the health IT field aren’t affected by the current dialogue surrounding EMRs, interoperability and the related technologies. HIMSS provides valuable updates on industry events, healthcare reform and a multitude of other topics.
2. Medical Group Management Association (@mgma). If physician practices are part of your target market, this is an excellent resource for staying on top of those issues that impact physicians from a clinical, administrative and financial perspective.
3. Healthcare Financial Management Association (@hfmaorg). By following HFMA, you’ll learn how financial trends are affecting healthcare organizations. You’ll also receive results of recent studies and valuable statistics.
4. Bulldog Reporter (@BulldogReporter). While not specific to healthcare, this is a great resource for B2B PR professionals looking for news and insights to better hone their strategies for generating positive media exposure.
5. Public Relations Society of America (@prsa). As the world’s largest PR organization, PRSA offers tips on educational tools, like webinars and publications, as well as news on issues affecting those working in the field.
6. PRSourceCode (@PRSourceCode). Geared specifically toward PR professionals within the IT industry, this resource provides ways to grow your PR savvy, from Webinars to interviews with editors and industry influencers.
7. HISTalk (@IngaHISTalk). This well-read blog covers a wide range of news and opinion related to the healthcare IT industry and is a great way to hear the perspective of those professionals working in the trenches.
8. iHealthBeat (@iHealthBeat). Compiled by the California Health Care Foundation, this free newsletter combines recent headlines from a variety of news media, including healthcare trades, magazines and daily newspapers. With so much content being written about healthcare IT, it’s a simple way to scan the headlines and make sure you’re not missing something specific your unique interests.
9. The New York Times Prescriptions Blog (@NYTPrescription). Monitoring the constant activity surrounding the proposed healthcare reform is no easy task. This blog from The New York Times is a great all-in-one-source for the latest on current proposals, what they mean for various stakeholders and what the experts have to say about it.
10. AP Style Book (@APStylebook). Keeping up on the latest style rules is much simpler when you follow the AP Style Book. You can even ask the editor a question and receive a response to a specific style question.

Any others you’d add to the list? We’d love to hear your thoughts.

Mark Hagland is a nationally recognized health care journalist, public speaker, and author. More information about him and about his work can be found at www.markhagland.org. In the following entry, he shares a few thoughts about the health care reform that is already happening in America.

With all the heat surrounding the national health care reform debate this summer, it would be easy to lose sight of the reality that what is primarily being talked about in Washington right now is health insurance reform (though with some elements of reimbursement reform mixed in).

And while people of good will might disagree on the best approach to address the enormous health insurance problems in our country, some level of consensus is beginning to emerge on what is sometimes referred to as “internal” health system reform—and that’s a good thing.

By “internal” reform, I mean the kinds of operational and incentive-related activities that take place within and around patient care in hospitals, clinics, and integrated health systems. I mean the innovative work being pursued by pioneer organizations across the country with regard to improving patient safety, patient care quality, clinician workflow, operational efficiency, and cost-effectiveness in care delivery.

I’ve described many examples of such work in my writing for health care professional publications, as well as in the two books I’ve written, Paradox and Imperatives in Health Care (which I co-authored with noted health care economist and futurist Jeffrey C. Bauer, Ph.D.), and Transformative Quality: The Emerging Revolution in Health Care Performance. In addition to shorter descriptions of various types of pioneering work in “internal health care reform” mentioned in those two books, I also provided fully 23 case studies of such work between the two volumes, focusing on organizations like Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston, Virginia Mason Medical Center in Seattle, Northwestern Memorial Hospital in Chicago, and Geisinger Health System in central Pennsylvania, all organizations that are doing what needs to be done to improve the quality of patient care and make health care more transparent, accountable, and ultimately affordable, for everyone.

My case studies in both books range from the very broad to the more specific. On the very broad side was my case study on the 44-hospital Trinity Health system, based in Novi, Michigan, whose clinician and IT leaders are engaged in a truly massive effort to improve care quality and efficiency, with intensive health care IT support.

Among other things, the Trinity Health folks have been developing evidence-based order sets that they are standardizing across the entire health system, while also developing standardized clinical process workflows across the health system. Just these two elements alone are remarkable (there are many other aspects of the Trinity Health innovation work), and speak to the vast potential across the U.S. health care system for significant internal reform of the health care delivery nationwide.

Meanwhile, at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center, a 20-hospital health system in Pittsburgh, PA, intrepid physicians have been creating innovations that demonstrate perfectly the kinds of synergies that can result when clinicians, IT professionals, and IT vendors work together to improve the environment around medication ordering, medication management, and overall access to relevant patient information at the point of care. Working with the Pittsburgh, PA-based dbMotion software company, Dr. Bill Fera and his colleagues at UPMC have innovated a kind of semantic interoperability that, since early 2008, has made it possible for physicians at some UPMC hospitals to pull up all of a patient’s medications and other clinical information (also including lab and radiology results) on a single screen, vastly improving physicians’ ability to make the best ordering and diagnostic decisions at the point of care.

Both of these case studies, along with nine others, are described more fully in Transformative Quality (available via my publisher’s website at www.productivitypress.com). What is strongly heartening for me is that organizations like Trinity Health and UPMC are showing the way forward, even as policymakers debate health insurance coverage and other very important health care policy issues in the coming weeks and months.

And, regardless of the final outcome of the comprehensive health care reform debate taking place in Washington right now, a consensus is emerging among all stakeholders that the “internal” reform that organizations like UPMC and Trinity Health are helping to lead is equally vital and important. I, for one, am looking forward to being able to write many, many more articles and book chapters about such innovations going forward. This is the kind of difficult, yet rewarding, work that health care providers face going into the future. In short, when it comes to “internal health care reform,” the future is now.

In case you have yet to see Ross Martin’s brilliantly creative YouTube video explaining “everything you need to know about the Health Information Technology for Clinical and Economic Recovery (HITECH) Act in under four minutes” it’s a definitive must-see. Should you not learn anything new, it’s at least entertaining! Check out HITECH: An Interoperetta in Three Acts. You can also read a little background information on Ross Martin and the ‘making of the video’ in a recent Modern Healthcare article.

Dr. Joel Diamond, CMO for Dodge client dbMotion, provides some interesting insight into the world of interoperability on his blog. Utilizing dbMotion technology, the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center (UPMC) recently completed the initial phase of its extensive interoperability initiative. As a practicing physician within the UPMC network, Dr. Diamond provides an interesting perspective on this hot topic.