HiMSS 2014: A Chat with Dr. Devin Jopp, CEO and President of WEDI

As a part of our role as a Social Media Ambassadors at HiMSS14 in Orlando, Florida, Gregg Masters and I had a chance to chat with Dr. Devin Jopp, Ed.D, CEO & President of WEDI. WEDI, in case you don’t know, is short for the Workgroup for Electronic Data Interchange. According to WEDI’s website, the organization is

“…the leading authority on the use of Health IT to improve healthcare information exchange in order to enhance the quality of care, improve efficiency and to reduce costs of the American healthcare system. Formed in 1991 by the Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS), WEDI was named in the 1996 HIPAA legislation as an advisor to HHS and continues to fulfill that role today. Serving as a private and public industry solution to critical healthcare problems, WEDI is a coalition comprised of a cross-section of the healthcare industry: doctors, hospitals, health plans, laboratories, pharmacies, clearinghouses, dentists, vendors, government regulators and other industry stakeholders.”

We invited Devin to chat with us about a new report they just produced, not knowing that the first report was so good that it served as a roadmap for the organization for 20 years! The second report hopefully will do the same.

We learn in this interview that here are four areas of concentration outlined in the report: Innovative Encounter Models, New Payment Models, Data Harmonization & Exchange, and Patient Engagement. And, importantly the report also empowered the formation of a new council, the Sullivan Institute Patient Experience Council, which will focus on the patient experience. It will be chaired by our good friend Kym Martin (a three time cancer survivor) and Gail Embt (a family caregiver). The council will be comprised only of patients. How refreshing to have a council about patients be made up of patients. Congratulations, WEDI!