Texas Children's Hospital to speak at HIMSS14 annual conference on importance of using data to improve quality of care and patient outcomes

HOUSTON - (Feb. 24, 2014) - Dr. Charles Macias, director of the Evidence Based Outcomes Center/Center for Clinical Effectiveness and chief clinical systems integration officer at Texas Children's Hospital, and Kathleen Carberry, RN, MPH, director of the Texas Children's Hospital Outcomes and Impact Service, will present two informative talks on using data to improve patient outcomes and drive efficiency in health care delivery at the 2014 Annual Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) Conference Exhibition. The conference will take place in Orlando, Florida from Feb. 23 through 27.

With the overarching themes of innovation, impact, outcomes and onward, HIMSS14's general education program features more than 300 sessions spread across 23 topic areas.

The conference will bring together more than 37,000 healthcare IT professionals, clinicians, executives and vendors from around the world to emphasize how vital collaborative technology is to the realization of connected health and patient empowerment. Hillary Rodham Clinton will deliver the keynote address at HIMSS14, which is considered to be one of the largest conferences of its kind.

"It is exciting to showcase the work being done at Texas Children's Hospital at this year's HIMSS conference," says Carberry. "We have made great strides in a short time with implementing the latest information technology to increase our capacity for measuring, analyzing, and improving our performance. The best part is that ultimately this benefits our patients and families."

Presentations from Texas Children's representatives will include:

• Dr. Charles Macias: Blending Clinical and Financial Data to drive the value equation
• Kathy Carberry: Outcomes: The real bottom-line

The goals of this conference are in line with what Texas Children's has been focusing on for the past few years in establishing a clinically driven data management strategy focused on understanding the hospital's performance and improving quality, outcomes, and efficiency. Texas Children's uses data to develop rapid cycle process improvements across continuums of care, putting the patient and family's needs first. Data analytics thus drive an understanding of the impact of care on the outcomes for populations of children with specific diseases. This strategy was initially implemented with a focus on asthma, appendicitis and pregnancy. The efforts have rapidly grown to include teams focused on improving care for children with diabetes, pneumonia, diseases in newborns, scoliosis, cleft lip and palate and heart failure. There are now more than 38 disease processes for which science (evidence base), data analytics, and care process improvement (quality improvement) can rapidly drive improvements in patient outcomes and efficiencies in care deliveries within these new structures.

Along with Macias and Carberry, several members of Texas Children's information technology team will attend the conference to meet with other health IT stakeholders for several days of education and networking.

For more information on the hospital's quality initiatives, visit texaschildrens.org.

About Texas Children’s Hospital

Texas Children’s Hospital, a not-for-profit health care organization, is committed to creating a healthier future for children and women throughout the global community by leading in patient care, education and research. Consistently ranked as the best children’s hospital in Texas, and among the top in the nation, Texas Children’s has garnered widespread recognition for its expertise and breakthroughs in pediatric and women’s health. The hospital includes the Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Research Institute; the Feigin Center for pediatric research; Texas Children’s Pavilion for Women, a comprehensive obstetrics/gynecology facility focusing on high-risk births; Texas Children’s Hospital West Campus, a community hospital in suburban West Houston; and Texas Children’s Hospital The Woodlands, a second community hospital planned to open in 2017. The organization also created the nation’s first HMO for children, has the largest pediatric primary care network in the country and a global health program that’s channeling care to children and women all over the world. Texas Children’s Hospital is affiliated with Baylor College of Medicine. For more information, go to www.texaschildrens.org. Get the latest news by visiting the online newsroom and Twitter at twitter.com/texaschildrens.